UNIONVILLE, Mo. — A 15-count indictment was handed down by a federal grand jury this week, alleging a father and son pair defrauded farmers of nearly $862,000 in 10 states through their hay selling business in Putnam County, Missouri.

Mark A. Henry Sr., 50, of Cameron, Missouri, and Mark A. Henry Jr., 28, of Lucerne, Missouri, were both charged with one count of conspiracy, seven counts of wire fraud and seven counts of mail fraud.

According to the indictment from a Kansas City, Missouri federal grand jury, most of the fraudulent practices related to the sale and shipment of hay. They also had additional charges for fraudulent selling of cattle.

Court filings say from around January 2010 to February 2013, the father and son sold poor quality hay to farmers through Craigslist, hayexchange.com and various newspapers.

In that time, the two collected $3.2 million in hay sales. The duo also talked with potential buyers from Missouri, Texas, Oklahoma, Iowa, Colorado, Nebraska, Kansas, Arkansas, Wyoming and New Mexico over the phone and via e-mails and texts.

The advertisements touted “excellent brome, orchard and Timothy hay…big heavy bales” as well as horse quality hay. However, the grand jury claims that the majority of the hay sold was poor quality.

Between January 2010 and October 2012, the grand jury claims the father and son entered contracts with the farmers, either verbally or in writing, for the sale of hay. However, they either failed to fulfill the hay order or provided very poor quality hay.

The grand jury also claims that the Henrys demanded pre-payment on the hay delivery, and did not refund those customers who had received either poor quality hay or who did not receive the full amount of hay they had purchased.

In addition to the sale of poor quality hay or the underfilled orders, the indictment also alleges that the duo overcharged for hay shipping costs and failed to pay two trucking companies a combined $57,800 even though the money had been collected from the farmers who ordered the hay.

The hay was full of weeds, sticks, bushes, small trees, briars, thistles and woody stems, Conservation Reserve Program hay, moldy hay and hay of low feed value, according to the indictment.

The father and son also sold at least 389 head of cattle, for a total of $538,700, according to the grand jury indictment. A total of 221 cows were examined, and a licensed veterinarian determined that 199 of the ages or conditions of the cattle were misrepresented in a way that would have made the cows worth a lesser amount than what was charged.

The majority of the cattle, according to the grand jury, were overinflated by between $300-400, based on the age of the cattle. An estimated $59,700 was received by the Henrys fraudulently due to this.

Court filings do not list an attorney for either the elder or younger Henry in the case.

The Centerville (Iowa) Iowegian contributed to this story.