Tacker guilty in Nettleton BioFlop

NEMS360 gives us the latest report in the Nettleton BioFlop.

William T. “Tommy” Tacker II of Okolona faces a virtual life sentence after a federal jury agreed Wednesday he took part in a multimillion-dollar biofuels subsidy fraud.

Tacker, 56, got into financial difficulties after trying to make a go with a Nettleton biodiesel refinery.

It found Tacker guilty of 10 counts of conspiracy, filing fraudulent documents and aiding and abetting the scheme through the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Commodities Credit Corp.

Tacker could receive up to 50 years in prison and up to $2.5 million in fines. At age 56, that could mean he spends the rest of his life behind bars.

Neither man will be sentenced for several weeks while the U.S. Probation Service develops background reports for consideration by Senior Judge Glen H. Davidson.

Late Wednesday, Tacker’s next legal options weren’t clear and his attorneys declined to comment.

Biodiesel of Mississippi Inc., purchased very little soybean oil from which to make biodiesel and produced very little fuel. But it collected more than $2.8 million from the USDA for fictional production increases from mid-2003 until March 2005.