SIOUX CITY, Iowa (KCAU) — A seed salesman from Larchwood has been sentenced for wire fraud and providing false statements to a financial institution.

Nathan Christie, 44, was sentenced for cutting out a seed distributor and selling corn and soybean seeds directly to farmers for his own benefit, according to a release from the U.S. Department of Justice.

The release said evidence showed Christie took money directly from farmers for seed, but did not forward the money to the owner of the seed while working for a seed company.

Christie used the money to cover gambling losses and pay for personal expenses, leaving the seed bill unpaid, according to the release.

The release said that at one point, Christie was almost caught for the crime when someone asked about a bill they had received, but Christie was able to cover the bill. Christie forged his spouse’s signature to acquire $62,076.23 on an Agriculture Security Agreement. He also obtained $350,000 by forging his spouse’s signature on a second real estate mortgage on their home.

The release said that after he was almost caught, he stopped using that distributor’s account and started to use the accounts of two other distributors.

Christie pleaded guilty on March 24 and was released on a personal recognizance bond. On July 11, a Motion for Revocation was filed stating that Christie had violated the conditions of his unsupervised pretrial release by committing a new law violation in light of his arrest for third-degree burglary. The court found that it was probable to believe he committed that crime and revoked his release.

On Wednesday, Christie was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison and ordered to pay $202,440.80 in restitution to AgReliant and $258,825.25 to American State Bank, totaling $461.266.05.

He will also have to serve a three-year term of supervised release after he is out of prison.

Christie will be held by U.S. Marshals before being transported to prison.