PIERRE, S.D. (KELO) — A Nebraska-based commodity trader allegedly broke a South Dakota law when the company purchased 123 truckloads of grain through its Batesland office last summer without a South Dakota license to buy grain.

The South Dakota Public Utilities Commission has been asked to charge the maximum $20,000 civil penalty to West Plains LLC for violating the law.

Commission attorney Kristen Edwards said the company could have faced a $123,000 punishment but for the law’s cap.

Paul Kenefick-Aschoff, an inspector and administrator with the commission’s grain-warehouse program, filed an affidavit in the case and provided email correspondence.

The commission next meets December 8. The matter hasn’t been scheduled yet.