The Seed Dealer Overcharged Him $11 A Bag For 12 Years — His Father's 2008 Bag Receipt Caught Them

Ajouté : 2026-05-09

[00:00:00]Bart Linebaugh is 56 years old.

[00:00:04]He farms 720 acres outside Buckley, Illinois on the same ground his father Hollis worked from 1968 until Hollis passed in June of 2018.

[00:00:18]The tractor Bart drives every spring planting and every fall harvest is the 1985 John Deere 445 oh, his father bought new in March of 1985 for $42,800 from the Lyman Family Paxton dealership.

[00:00:39]140 horsepower 6-cylinder 6466T turbo diesel 15-speed power shift transmission the same dark factory green Hollis washed every Saturday afternoon for 33 years.

[00:00:56]Bart has bought every bag of corn and soybean seed for the Linebaugh 720 from Heartland Seed Supply in Gilman, Illinois since 2012.

[00:01:08]The year Cordell Briscoe bought the dealership from the previous owner Hollis had used since 1992.

[00:01:16]If this kind of story matters to you the kind where the receipts tell the truth and the work speaks for itself we'd be honored if you subscribed.

[00:01:27]Jolene Linebaugh sat at the kitchen desk on a Sunday evening in late March 2024 with the 2024 spring corn seed receipt from Heartland Seed Supply spread across the oak tabletop.

[00:01:43]The receipt showed 248 bags of Pioneer P1108AM corn seed at $312 per bag a $11 per bag handling fee and a 7.5% state seed tax.

[00:02:00]Total $84,016 for the spring 2024 corn requirement on the Line Boss 720.

[00:02:09]Beside the 2024 receipt, Jolene had pulled Hollis Line Boss brown accordion seed receipt file from the kitchen hutch, where it had lived since 1968.

[00:02:23]She opened the file to the 2008 spring corn seed receipt, Hollis's last big seed order before his health declined.

[00:02:33]The 2008 receipt showed 240 bags of Pioneer 33D49 corn seed at $214 per bag, no handling fee, and a 7.5% state seed tax. Total $55,212.

[00:02:54]"Bart," Jolene called.

[00:02:56]"Jolene." Bart answered from the kitchen doorway. "Bart, the 2024 receipt has an $11 per bag handling fee.

[00:03:06]Your father's 2008 receipt does not."

[00:03:10]"Jolene, the handling fee is on every Heartland seed supply receipt I've signed since 2012," Bart said.

[00:03:17]"Bart, every receipt since 2012?" Jolene asked.

[00:03:22]"Every receipt since 2012," Bart confirmed.

[00:03:26]"Bart, I pulled the 2008 receipt from your father's accordion file because I wanted to compare last year's fertilizer per acre," Jolene said.

[00:03:38]"Your father bought the same Pioneer brand at the same dealership address from the same yard in 2008. There was no handling fee. The handling fee was added the year Cordell Briscoe bought the dealership from Mervin Pelter in 2012.

[00:03:56]Jolene $11 a bag * 240 bags is $2,640 a year.

[00:04:03]$11 a bag * 240 bags is $2,640 a year.

[00:04:10]Jolene replied Across 12 years from 2012 through 2024 that's $31,680 in handling fees the previous owner Mervin Pelter never charged.

[00:04:27]Jolene $31,680 against my farm operating account in 12 years.

[00:04:36]Bart, I called the Cordes farm at 4:18 p.m. today and asked Adley what his Heartland Seed Supply receipt looks like for 2024.

[00:04:46]Jolene said Adley faxed me a copy of his receipt at 4:42 p.m.

[00:04:53]Adley's 2024 receipt has the same $11 per bag handling fee.

[00:04:59]Jolene Adley, too?

[00:05:02]Adley, too? Wayland Osborne, too? Carol Eustace, too?

[00:05:06]I called all three after I saw your 2024 receipt.

[00:05:10]The $11 per bag handling fee is on every Heartland Seed Supply receipt across at least four farms going back to 2012.

[00:05:20]Jolene, that's not a handling fee, that's a margin.

[00:05:25]Bart, that's a margin Cordell Briscoe added to every receipt since 2012.

[00:05:31]The previous owner Mervin Pelter ran the same yard for 20 years without a handling fee.

[00:05:39]Jolene Call Earl in the morning.

[00:05:42]Bart, I'm calling Earl tonight.

[00:05:45]If you're still here, subscribe. The numbers in this story are real, and so are the dealers behind them.

[00:05:53]Jolene called Earl Braddock at 8:14 p.m.

[00:05:57]Sunday evening. Earl listened to the entire account with both hands flat on his own kitchen table while Ruth refilled his coffee mug. When Jolene finished, Earl asked one question.

[00:06:10]Jolene, do you still have your father-in-law's original 2008 receipt in the accordion file? Earl asked.

[00:06:20]Earl, the original is in the file, Jolene said.

[00:06:25]Pioneer letterhead from 2008.

[00:06:28]Hollis's signature in the bottom right corner.

[00:06:32]The yellowed paper held up clean.

[00:06:36]Jolene, that's the document Porter Coley at the Illinois Department of Agriculture Bureau of Markets needs.

[00:06:44]Earl replied.

[00:06:45]Porter handled the Iroquois County Co-op grain elevator audit in October. He's the right investigator for a seed pricing complaint.

[00:06:55]I'll call him at 8:00 a.m. Monday morning.

[00:06:58]We'll meet at his Champaign office at 10:00 a.m. Tuesday.

[00:07:03]Earl, will Porter run a multi-farm audit?

[00:07:07]Jolene, Porter will run a multi-farm audit if four signed complaints land on his desk by Friday afternoon.

[00:07:15]Earl said. The Coords complaint, the Osborn complaint, the Eustace complaint, and the Linebaugh complaint. I'll have Adlai file at 9:00 a.m. Monday. Wayland files at 10:00 a.m. Carol files at 11:00 a.m. Bart files at noon.

[00:07:34]Earl, that's the right cascade.

[00:07:37]Jolene, the cascade works because four farmers under one dealer is a pattern, not a clerical error.

[00:07:45]Adlai court is called Bart at 7:14 a.m.

[00:07:49]Monday morning, March 25th, 2024 from his kitchen line outside Buckley.

[00:07:56]Bart, Earl told me about the Heartland complaint, Adlai said.

[00:08:01]Adlai, we're filing four signed complaints by Friday afternoon.

[00:08:06]Bart replied.

[00:08:08]Adlai's filing his at 9:00 a.m. today.

[00:08:11]I'll have Waylon Osborne sign at 10:00 a.m.

[00:08:15]Carol Eustace signs at 11:00 a.m.

[00:08:17]You sign at noon, Adlai said. Adlai, that's the right cascade.

[00:08:23]Bart, the Heartland yard's been adding $11 a bag to my receipts since the year my father passed in 2014, Adlai said.

[00:08:34]I never noticed.

[00:08:35]Jolene's the first farmer's wife who pulled an old receipt to compare.

[00:08:41]Without Hollis's accordion file, we'd all be paying $11 a bag through 2030.

[00:08:48]Adlai, my father kept everything for 50 years.

[00:08:53]Bart, Hollis kept everything because his father taught him to keep everything, Adlai replied. That's the kind of paperwork that doesn't fight a fraud until decades later. Then it fights.

[00:09:07]Adlai, I'll see you at noon, Bart said.

[00:09:11]Bart, see you at noon.

[00:09:13]Porter Coley met Bart, Jolene, and Earl at the Illinois Department of Agriculture Bureau of Markets office in Champaign at 10:00 a.m. Tuesday morning, March 26th, 2024.

[00:09:28]Porter wore the navy state polo with the seal on the chest.

[00:09:32]He had pulled the Heartland seed supply pricing schedules for 2012 through 2024 from the state seed dealer registry by 9:00 a.m. that morning.

[00:09:46]Heartland Seeds Supply's published price schedule did not list any handling fee in any of the 12 years. The $11 per bag handling fee did not exist on the published price sheet.

[00:10:00]Bart, the handling fee was not disclosed on the dealership's published price sheet at any point between 2012 and 2024.

[00:10:12]Porter said.

[00:10:14]Porter, that's the finding, Bart replied.

[00:10:17]Bart, the finding is more than that.

[00:10:20]Porter said.

[00:10:22]Under the Illinois Seed Law, 505 ILCS 110, a registered seed dealer must publish a complete price sheet each season and must charge customers exclusively from that published price sheet.

[00:10:38]Adding an $11 per bag handling fee at the receipt stage that was not disclosed on the published price is a class 4 felony violation under the Illinois Seed Laws deceptive pricing provisions.

[00:10:53]Porter, $11 a bag is a felony? Jolene asked.

[00:10:58]Jolene, $11 a bag times 240 bags times 12 years.

[00:11:05]Times one farm is $31,680.

[00:11:10]Porter answered. Across the four farms that have already filed complaints by yesterday afternoon, Linebaugh, Cordis, Osborn, Eustace, the documented underpayment to date is approximately $124,800.

[00:11:30]Across every farm Heartland Seed Supply has serviced in the past 12 years, the estimated underpayment is between $1.4 million and $2.8 million.

[00:11:42]Yes, Jolene, $11 a bag is a felony.

[00:11:47]Porter, when does the audit run? Earl asked.

[00:11:50]Earl, the audit will run starting Monday, April 1st. Porter replied, "I'll be at the Heartland Seed Supply yard in Gilman at 7:30 a.m. with two senior auditors and a sealed forensic accounting team.

[00:12:06]Cordell Briscoe will be served the audit notice at 7:42 a.m.

[00:12:13]The yard will remain open during the audit to honor existing seed delivery contracts, but the pricing will be locked at the published price sheet retroactive to March 1st, 2024.

[00:12:27]Porter, what happens to Cordell? Jolene asked.

[00:12:32]Jolene, Cordell faces three class four felony counts under Illinois seed law, 505 ILCS 110 deceptive pricing provisions, plus restitution to every farmer who paid the undisclosed handling fee since 2012.

[00:12:54]The Illinois Attorney General's Office will receive my findings by April 28th.

[00:13:00]Porter, that's the right outcome.

[00:13:04]Bart, the right outcome arrives at 7:30 a.m. Monday.

[00:13:09]Porter Coley pulled the white 2022 Ford F-150 with the state plates into the gravel parking lot of Heartland Seed Supply outside Gilman at 7:14 a.m. Monday morning, April 1st, 2024, 16 minutes ahead of schedule.

[00:13:30]Two senior state auditors and a forensic accounting team of three followed in a state-leased Chevy Tahoe.

[00:13:38]Porter walked into the front office at 7:42 a.m. and served Cordell Briscoe the audit notice in person.

[00:13:48]Mr. Briscoe Porter Coley, Illinois Department of Agriculture Bureau of Markets, Porter said.

[00:13:55]Investigator? Cordell replied with a small dismissive chuckle.

[00:14:00]Mr. Briscoe The published price sheet for Heartland Seed Supply does not list an $11 per bag handling fee in any year from 2012 through 2024.

[00:14:14]The handling fee added to every customer receipt during this period constitutes deceptive pricing under Illinois Seed Law 505 ILCS 110.

[00:14:28]Investigator, the handling fee covers our delivery and storage costs, Cordell said. Mr. Briscoe delivery and storage are required services under the published price.

[00:14:40]Both must be included in the published per bag price under state law.

[00:14:45]Adding them as a separate line item on the receipt is deceptive.

[00:14:51]Investigator, Mr. Briscoe, the audit begins now. Sign the audit notice.

[00:14:58]Magnus Briscoe walked into Porter Coley's champagne office at 9:14 a.m. on Tuesday April 2nd, 2024 the second day of the audit.

[00:15:11]Magnus wore the pressed Heartland Seed Supply polo and dark jeans.

[00:15:17]He carried a manila folder under one arm. Porter met him in the lobby.

[00:15:22]"Mr. Brisco, you're early." Porter said.

[00:15:26]"Investigator, I'm here to cooperate."

[00:15:29]Magnus replied.

[00:15:31]"Mr. Brisco, your father is the registered owner of Heartland Seed Supply.

[00:15:36]The audit is on his accounts."

[00:15:39]"Investigator, my father is the registered owner." Magnus said.

[00:15:44]"I'm the junior manager. I've been begging my father to drop the $11 per bag handling fee since 2022.

[00:15:52]My father refused. I'm here today with a folder of every internal memo I sent him from 2022 through 2024 documenting my objection."

[00:16:05]"Mr. Brisco, why are you cooperating?"

[00:16:09]Porter asked.

[00:16:10]"Investigator, I'll inherit the dealership." Magnus said. "If I let my father's structure stand, I inherit a fraud.

[00:16:19]If I cooperate today, I inherit a clean dealership and the trust of the 124 customers my father has been overcharging.

[00:16:29]The math is the math."

[00:16:33]"Mr. Brisco, you understand that your cooperation will result in your father's prosecution?"

[00:16:41]"Investigator, I understand." Magnus said.

[00:16:45]"My father was wrong.

[00:16:47]The 124 customers were not wrong. The state is not wrong.

[00:16:54]I'd rather inherit a smaller dealership with honest customers than a bigger one full of grievances."

[00:17:01]"Mr. Brisco, your cooperation will accelerate the audit by approximately 3 weeks." Porter said.

[00:17:10]"Sign the cooperation agreement at the front desk."

[00:17:14]"Investigator, I'm signing today."

[00:17:16]Magnus replied.

[00:17:18]The audit ran from April 1st through April 28th, 2024.

[00:17:23]Findings: Heartland Seed Supply had collected $1,840,000 in undisclosed handling fees across 124 farm customers between 2012 and 2024.

[00:17:43]The fees represented pure margin, not delivery or storage cost, and had been recorded on Cordell Briscoe's personal accounts under the Heartland Seed Supply ownership structure.

[00:17:57]Magnus Briscoe, Cordell's 28-year-old son and junior manager, had signed receipts containing the undisclosed fee since 2020, but had no involvement in the structure prior to that date. The Illinois Attorney General's Office filed three Class 4 felony charges against Cordell Briscoe on May 6th, 2024.

[00:18:23]The state restitution formula returned 100% of the undisclosed handling fees plus 4% annual interest from the date of each underpayment forward.

[00:18:35]The Linebaugh restitution: $36,840 across 12 years and 12% compound interest.

[00:18:46]Wayland Osborn's restitution: $42,200.

[00:18:52]Carol Eustace's restitution: $48,400.

[00:18:58]Adlai Cordis's restitution: $32,400.

[00:19:03]Across all 124 customers, total restitution paid out by the end of October 2024.

[00:19:13]$2,140,000.

[00:19:17]The Iroquois County Sheriff's Office Fraud Investigations Unit working alongside Porta Collies Bureau of Markets team opened a parallel criminal investigation on April 14th, 2024 after the audits first week findings landed on Deputy Owen Marsh's desk. Owen interviewed Cordell Briscoe at the Heartland Seed Supply Yard at 9:14 a.m.

[00:19:43]on Friday, April 19th, 2024.

[00:19:48]"Mr. Briscoe, Owen Marsh, Iroquois County Sheriff."

[00:19:52]Owen said.

[00:19:54]"Deputy, the state audit is already running."

[00:19:57]Cordell replied with a small dismissive chuckle.

[00:20:01]"Mr. Briscoe, the state audit handles the regulatory side. The criminal investigation runs in parallel.

[00:20:10]The $1,840,000 in undisclosed handling fees you collected since 2012 is the question I'm here to ask about."

[00:20:21]"Deputy, the handling fee covered legitimate costs." Cordell said.

[00:20:27]"Mr. Briscoe, your son Magnus signed a cooperation agreement on April 2nd documenting the fee was margin, not cost.

[00:20:37]Magnus' internal memos from 2022 through 2024 confirm it.

[00:20:44]Your tax filings list zero delivery and storage cost line items at the corporate level.

[00:20:50]The fee was margin from the day you added it in 2012.

[00:20:55]Deputy, Mr. Briscoe, the Iroquois County State's Attorney's Office will file class four felony charges by April 28th.

[00:21:05]Surrender your dealer license today and the state will accept a cooperative plea.

[00:21:11]Refuse and you'll be arraigned on three counts."

[00:21:15]"Deputy, I'll surrender the license."

[00:21:18]"Mr. Brisco, that's the smart play."

[00:21:22]Jolene logged the Line Bar restitution check on Thursday evening, October 17th, 2024 at the kitchen desk with her father-in-law Hollis's brown accordion file open beside her.

[00:21:37]She turned to the 2008 receipt page where Hollis had filed his last big seed order before his health declined. On the facing page, she added a fresh entry in green ink in her own hand.

[00:21:53]"Restitution received, October 17th, 2024.

[00:21:58]$36,840.

[00:22:02]Hollis was right to keep the receipt."

[00:22:04]Bart.

[00:22:05]"Hollis was right to keep the receipt," Jolene said.

[00:22:09]"Jolene, Hollis was right to keep every receipt for 50 years," Bart replied.

[00:22:15]"Bart, the accordion file stays in the kitchen hutch."

[00:22:20]"The accordion file stays in the kitchen hutch."

[00:22:24]Earl drove out to the Line Bar farmstead on a clear Saturday afternoon in late October 2024 in the silver Chevy Silverado 2500.

[00:22:36]Bart met him in the gravel drive in the dark tan Carhartt chore coat and the faded green John Deere cap pulled low against the autumn wind.

[00:22:47]Earl wore the olive green John Deere mesh cap.

[00:22:52]The dark tan Carhartt chore coat over the buffalo check flannel, the Wrangler jeans, and the Red Wing Irish Setter boots. His steel blue eyes met Bart's.

[00:23:05]"Bart, the 4450 ran clean through the 2024 fall harvest?" Earl asked.

[00:23:13]"Earl, 11,840 hours became 12,184 by yesterday evening."

[00:23:21]Bart said.

[00:23:22]"The 4450 ran the entire 720 acres on the corn and the beans without a single fault."

[00:23:31]"Bart, what about Cordell?" Earl asked.

[00:23:35]"Earl, Cordell pleaded guilty to two of the three felony counts on October 24th in exchange for a 24-month sentence at Stateville and full restitution." Bart said. "His son Magnus took over Heartland Seed Supply on November 1st with a state-monitored published price sheet and a Bureau of Markets quarterly audit through the end of 2026.

[00:24:02]The yard stays open. The customers get a fair price."

[00:24:08]"Bart, Magnus is a different man than his father?"

[00:24:12]"Earl, Magnus walked into Porter Coley's Champagne office on his own at 9:14 a.m.

[00:24:19]the day of the audit and offered to cooperate with the investigation."

[00:24:23]Bart replied. "Magnus had been begging his father to drop the handling fee since 2022.

[00:24:30]Cordell refused.

[00:24:32]Magnus is the reason the Bureau of Markets had complete payroll records inside the first 3 days of the audit.

[00:24:41]Bart, Magnus did the right thing."

[00:24:44]"Earl, Magnus did the right thing the only way a son can do the right thing when his father is wrong."

[00:24:51]"Bart, your father Hollis kept the 2008 receipt in the accordion file because he kept everything.

[00:25:00]Earl, my father kept everything, Bart said.

[00:25:04]The receipt was never about catching anyone. It was about keeping the record.

[00:25:09]16 years later, the record caught Cordell on its own.

[00:25:14]Bart, that's the kind of paperwork your father did.

[00:25:19]Earl, that's the kind of paperwork my father did.

[00:25:22]Bart walked the 445 O out to the south, 320 of the line ball ground at 5:48 a.m.

[00:25:32]Saturday morning, October 12th, 2024 to start the 2024 fall corn harvest. Jolene rode in the cab beside him for the first round.

[00:25:43]Bart, the power shift slides clean, Jolene said. Jolene, the power shift slides clean. The 4450 has run honest for 39 years.

[00:25:56]Bart, my father-in-law trusted Mervin Pelter at the seed yard from 1992 to 2011.

[00:26:04]Mervin charged a fair price and ran an honest receipt.

[00:26:08]Cordell Briscoe took over in 2012 and added the handling fee in his first quarter as owner.

[00:26:17]Jolene, Cordell took the dealership and turned a fair structure into a fraud.

[00:26:23]Bart, Cordell took 12 years of margin he hadn't earned.

[00:26:29]Jolene, the state caught it on a Sunday evening in March because you pulled a 2008 receipt out of an accordion file.

[00:26:39]Bart, Hollis kept the receipt because his father taught him to keep everything.

[00:26:45]The receipt did the catching.

[00:26:48]Jolene, the receipt did the catching.

[00:26:51]Bart, what about the next farmer's wife who pulls a 2024 receipt out of an accordion file in 2040?

[00:27:00]Jolene asked.

[00:27:01]Jolene, that woman will catch the next Cordell Briscoe the same way you caught this one. Bart said. The line gets held by the people who keep the paperwork.

[00:27:13]Bart, the line gets held.

[00:27:15]The line gets held, Jolene? Bart replied.

[00:27:19]Earl sat at his own kitchen table that evening at 8:00 p.m. with Ruth across from him. The white ceramic coffee pot sat between them.

[00:27:30]Earl, the Heartland Seed Supply audit returned $2,140,000 to 124 farms. Ruth said.

[00:27:40]Ruth, $2,140,000 across 124 farms? Earl replied.

[00:27:48]Earl, what would have happened if Jolene hadn't pulled the 2008 receipt out of Hollis's accordion file? Ruth asked.

[00:27:59]Ruth, the handling fee would still be on every Heartland receipt going forward through 2025 and 2026 and beyond. Earl said.

[00:28:10]Cordell Briscoe would have collected another $300,000 a year in undisclosed margin until his retirement in 2032.

[00:28:22]Magnus would have inherited the structure without the leverage to fix it. The 124 farms would have kept paying $11 a bag they didn't know.

[00:28:33]Earl, the 2008 receipt held the line for 16 years.

[00:28:39]Ruth, the 2008 receipt held the line because Hollis Linebaugh kept it. He didn't keep it to catch a fraud. He kept it because his father taught him to keep every piece of paper from every year of the farm.

[00:28:55]16 years later, the paper did the catching on its own.

[00:29:00]Earl, the next farmer who pulls a 2008 receipt out of an accordion file in 50 years, Ruth, that farmer will catch the next Cordell.

[00:29:12]Earl, the line gets held by the people who keep the receipts.

[00:29:16]Ruth, the line gets held by the people who keep the receipts.

[00:29:21]Earl answered. Dale Voss came by the Braddock farmstead on a clear Tuesday morning in early November 2024 in his white GMC Yukon.

[00:29:33]Earl, heard about the Heartland Seed Supply audit? Dale said.

[00:29:38]You heard, Earl said. $2.1 million across 124 farms.

[00:29:45]$2,140,000 across 124 farms.

[00:29:51]Earl replied.

[00:29:53]Cordell Briscoe took $11 a bag out of every farmer in three counties for 12 years.

[00:30:00]The state took 28 days to find it once Jolene Linebaugh pulled a 2008 receipt out of her father-in-law's brown accordion file on a Sunday evening.

[00:30:13]You make it sound noble.

[00:30:15]I make it sound right, Dale. Earl said.

[00:30:19]Hollis Linebaugh kept the receipt 16 years before he passed.

[00:30:24]The receipt did the catching.

[00:30:26]The receipt always does the catching when the family keeps the paperwork.

[00:30:31]Dale shook his head with a wide, smug, mocking smirk and a dismissive shake of his head and climbed back into the Yukon and drove off without another word.

[00:30:43]Magnus Briscoe mailed Bart Linebaugh a handwritten apology letter on company letterhead on November 18th, 2024.

[00:30:54]Three weeks after he formally took over Heartland Seed Supply at the age of 28.

[00:31:00]The letter ran two paragraphs, signed in dark blue ink.

[00:31:05]Bart filed it in the brown accordion file on the page facing his father's 2008 receipt in the same spot Jolene had logged the restitution.

[00:31:16]The apology fit between the original receipt and the restitution entry like it had been waiting for 16 years to be written.

[00:31:25]The 1985 John Deere 4450 sat in the open machine shed of the Linebaugh farmstead outside Buckley on the night of October 22nd, 2024.

[00:31:42]With $42,800 of original 1985 purchase price still in her dark factory green paint, 12,184 hours on the meter, $36,840 of state restitution restored to the farm she'd hauled crops off of for 39 years.

[00:32:05]And the original Hollis Linebaugh brown accordion seed receipt file back in the kitchen hutch where it had lived since 1968.

[00:32:16]The 4450 had hauled clean. The seed dealer had not.

[00:32:23]The state finally caught up.