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A Fresno County farmer will spend some time in prison after being sentenced this week for crop insurance fraud.

Jatinderjeet “Jyoti” Sihota, 40, of Selma, was sentenced Monday to one year in prison for conspiring to commit crop insurance fraud, acting U.S. Attorney Michele Beckwith announced.

According to court records, for several years, Sihota’s family’s farming operation produced table grapes and other crops in the counties of Fresno and Tulare, selling many of those crops through the fruit packing company where Ralph Hackett, 69, of Clovis, was a member and manager.

Starting in 2012, Sihota became involved with her family’s farming operation.

From 2012 through 2016, she and Hackett carried out a fraud scheme to obtain more than $650,000 in crop insurance payments they were not entitled to.

They altered records for the insurance company that underreported the amount of crops the farming operation sold through the fruit packing company to make it appear as if the farming operation had suffered major crop losses.

Emails and other evidence point to the fraud being Sihota’s idea.

She pleaded with Hackett to make the alterations, instructed him on the specific changes that needed to be made, and asked him to keep everything a secret.

Sihota emailed other fruit brokers asking them to alter records for her, which they refused to do.

Hackett was charged separately and has pleaded guilty for his role in the fraud.

Hackett is scheduled to be sentenced on May 27, and is facing a maximum statutory penalty of 20 years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine.

The actual sentence will be determined at the discretion of the court after consideration of any applicable statutory factors and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines.

The case was the product of an investigation by the U.S. Department of Agriculture Office of Inspector General And Risk Management Agency Special Investigations Staff. Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Barton prosecuted the case.