Man Who Stole Almost $800,000 from Central Wisconsin Farmers Sentenced

Thursday, August 3rd, 2023 -- 12:00 PM

(Karen Madden, Stevens Point Journal) A man who stole almost $800,000 from central Wisconsin farmers and trucking companies was sentenced Monday in Portage County Circuit Court to six months in prison and eight years of probation.

According to Karen Madden with the Stevens Point Journal, Thomas Lundgren, 60, currently of Chico, California, pleaded no contest Jan. 30 to four counts of theft of more than $10,000 in a business setting.

As part of a plea agreement, 12 other counts of theft in a business setting were dismissed with nine of the dismissed charges being considered during sentencing. During Lundgren's sentencing Monday, Assistant District Attorney Brian Pfeil said a presentence investigation recommended Lundgren not receive a long prison sentence.

It said that Lundgren, who has no other criminal record, would be harmed by spending an extended period of time with other inmates. The investigation report recommended five years of probation.

Pfeil said for Lundgren to not spend any time incarcerated would send a message to the community that it's OK to take almost $800,000 from hard-working farmers. He asked Portage County Circuit Judge Rick Cveykus to sentence Lundgren to nine months in jail and eight years of probation.

According to the criminal complaint, Lundgren, formerly of Stevens Point, owned Spud City Sales, a business that acted as a go-between for potato farmers wanting to sell crops to buyers.

Between January 2011 and August 2012, Lundgren made sales and then refused to pay the farmers what they were owed, according to the complaint. The victims included farmers and trucking companies in Adams, Columbia, Portage and Waushara counties.

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