Colorado Man Gets Probation For Nebraska Tractor Sale Scheme

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) - A Colorado man has been given five years of probation for a tractor sale scheme in Nebraska.

Federal prosecutors say 63-year-old Benedict Palen Jr., of Denver, was sentenced Friday in U.S. District Court in Omaha. He was ordered to perform 200 hours of community service and pay the remaining unpaid restitution of $2,500.

Prosecutors say Palen, acting through his company, Great Plains Farms, sold a tractor in September 2012 to a party in Holdrege, Nebraska, and to someone in North Dakota. Investigators say the tractor actually was sold in 2011 by Palen to a company in Florida.

Prosecutors say Palen also sold a different tractor to someone in Bertrand, Nebraska, that also had been sold to the Florida company.

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