Wind farm owner to stand trial in February on $1 million fraud scheme charges

 

A former Minnesota wind farm owner and operator charged with a $1 million fraud scheme is reportedly headed to trial in the coming year.

Kerry Dale Kisslinger, 58, is a former owner and CEO of ES Windpower, Inc. and was indicted in November. His company sold wind turbines to farmers and ranchers throughout the Midwest.

The indictment alleged that beginning in 2012 and until 2015, Kisslinger “devised and executed a scheme to defraud ESWindpower customers by falsely representing that in exchange for payment, Kisslinger and his company would deliver and install a wind turbine on the customers’ farms or land.”

Kisslinger reportedly failed to send a down payment to a North Dakota-based wind turbine manufacturer in some of the purchases.

Federal prosecutors in Minnesota say he regularly used the customers’ payments for personal use and benefit including a $45,000 down payment on a lakefront home in Emmons, Minnesota. He also used money to buy Minnesota Timberwolves season tickets.

Kisslinger now reportedly lives in Humble, Texas and is scheduled to go to trial in February.