BECKLEY - A Greenbrier County man pleaded guilty Monday to federal charges related to a scheme in which he resold the same group of cattle to multiple buyers.

Kevin Scott O'Brien, 28, pleaded guilty to mail fraud, admitting that he bilked would-be investors out of millions of dollars. The case eventually expanded to include two former Ronceverte bank officials.

"It became a Ponzi scheme of sorts involving cattle," said Assistant U.S. Attorney Anna Forbes.

In a typical Ponzi scheme, the con artist uses cash from one investor to pay another a high return on a short-term deal as a means of convincing them to invest larger and larger amounts in non-existent deals.

According to a one-count information filed last month, O'Brien - acting individually and through his companies, Shamrock Farms LLC and K&M Properties and Investments Inc. - promised cattle farmers and others that he would invest their money in phantom cattle transactions, then pocketed the money.

O'Brien also admitted that he gave almost $10,000 in bribes to Charles Henthorn, the former president of First National Bank in Ronceverte, in late 2005.

After O'Brien's hearing, Henthorn pleaded guilty to accepting bribes, and former bank board member G. Thomas Garten admitted aiding and abetting the bribing of a bank official.

U.S. Postal Inspector Burl Fluharty said the investigation, which eventually involved the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, West Virginia State Police, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, started after police received multiple complaints about O'Brien.

O'Brien eventually made four payments to Henthorn, including two checks for $2,500 and $5,000. On one of the checks, written by O'Brien on Nov. 22, 2005, on his Shamrock Farms account and entered as evidence on Monday, the memo section reads: "Overpayment refund dump truck rental."

The postal inspector testified that Garten, 56, who introduced O'Brien to Henthorn, told O'Brien that the 48-year-old bank president was "the keys to the bank."

In May 2006, O'Brien signed a plea agreement with the U.S. Attorney's Office. He wore a wire and taped conversations with Henthorn, who signed a plea agreement in June 2007.

BECKLEY - A Greenbrier County man pleaded guilty Monday to federal charges related to a scheme in which he resold the same group of cattle to multiple buyers.

Kevin Scott O'Brien, 28, pleaded guilty to mail fraud, admitting that he bilked would-be investors out of millions of dollars. The case eventually expanded to include two former Ronceverte bank officials.

"It became a Ponzi scheme of sorts involving cattle," said Assistant U.S. Attorney Anna Forbes.

In a typical Ponzi scheme, the con artist uses cash from one investor to pay another a high return on a short-term deal as a means of convincing them to invest larger and larger amounts in non-existent deals.

According to a one-count information filed last month, O'Brien - acting individually and through his companies, Shamrock Farms LLC and K&M Properties and Investments Inc. - promised cattle farmers and others that he would invest their money in phantom cattle transactions, then pocketed the money.

O'Brien also admitted that he gave almost $10,000 in bribes to Charles Henthorn, the former president of First National Bank in Ronceverte, in late 2005.

After O'Brien's hearing, Henthorn pleaded guilty to accepting bribes, and former bank board member G. Thomas Garten admitted aiding and abetting the bribing of a bank official.

U.S. Postal Inspector Burl Fluharty said the investigation, which eventually involved the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, West Virginia State Police, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, started after police received multiple complaints about O'Brien.

O'Brien eventually made four payments to Henthorn, including two checks for $2,500 and $5,000. On one of the checks, written by O'Brien on Nov. 22, 2005, on his Shamrock Farms account and entered as evidence on Monday, the memo section reads: "Overpayment refund dump truck rental."

The postal inspector testified that Garten, 56, who introduced O'Brien to Henthorn, told O'Brien that the 48-year-old bank president was "the keys to the bank."

In May 2006, O'Brien signed a plea agreement with the U.S. Attorney's Office. He wore a wire and taped conversations with Henthorn, who signed a plea agreement in June 2007.

In turn, Fluharty said, Henthorn recorded conversations with Garten, who signed his own plea agreement two months later.

Forbes also submitted as evidence two checks totaling $162,418.44 that O'Brien wrote to a Virginia cattle farmer named Danny Thompson in March 2006 that represented proceeds from the sale of 191 steers. One check bounced because of insufficient funds, and O'Brien stopped payment on the second.

"Danny Thompson is a wonderful, salt-of-the-earth farmer who took Kevin O'Brien at his word," Forbes said, "and he got burned."

Investigators worked for months to unravel O'Brien's scheme, which involved as many as 12 victims in Virginia, Illinois, Nebraska, Texas and Indiana, she said.

"Cows don't have [vehicle identification] numbers, so it's kind of an easier way to hide [wrongdoing]," she said.

As part of the scheme, O'Brien would show potential investors false financial statements that indicated that he sold more than $26 million worth of livestock and timber in 2005, clearing almost $2.4 million for himself.

The bogus statements put O'Brien's new worth at almost $5 million. They listed more than $7 million in assets, including more than $2.5 million worth of cattle in West Virginia and Nebraska, with liabilities totaling almost $2.2 million.

According to the Register-Herald of Beckley, O'Brien invoked his Fifth Amendment right to not incriminate himself more than 100 times at a bankruptcy hearing in August 2006.

O'Brien, Henthorn and Garten all face up to 30 years in prison when sentenced by U.S. District Judge Thomas E. Johnston on June 30. Each also faces large fines and restitution.

To contact staff writer Andrew Clevenger, use e-mail or call 348-1723.