After a two-week trial, a Santa Clara County jury convicted
41-year-old Jeffrey Whalen of five felony counts of grand theft and
two felony counts of forgery, all involving the sale of cows or
sheep. The jury also found true a special allegation that the
amount that Whalen stole exceeded $150,000.
After a two-week trial, a Santa Clara County jury convicted 41-year-old Jeffrey Whalen of five felony counts of grand theft and two felony counts of forgery, all involving the sale of cows or sheep. The jury also found true a special allegation that the amount that Whalen stole exceeded $150,000.
In April 2004, Whalen, the owner of Whalen Dairy Farm on Middle Avenue in San Martin, pretended to broker the sale of 156 head of cattle and some farm equipment for $180,000 between a local mortgage broker as buyer and a Texas dairy farmer as seller, according to the Santa Clara County Office of the District Attorney. Whalen agreed to keep the cattle and equipment at the Whalen Dairy Farm, paying the buyer rent for the cattle and splitting the profits from the eventual sale of the cattle. In connection with this sale, Whalen provided the buyer with a copy of the contract, seemingly signed by the Texas seller. Unknown to the buyer, Whalen had forged the signature.
The Texas seller received the $180,000 from the buyer, but he applied those funds to a debt owed for a much lesser number of cattle purchased earlier by Whalen, according to the district attorney’s office. The Texas seller knew nothing about the mortgage broker buyer and was told by Whalen that these funds had been loaned to Whalen.
In December 2003, the same mortgage broker was tricked into loaning $65,000 to Whalen, based on Whalen’s false representation that certain cattle and hay trailers on the dairy farm were in imminent danger of foreclosure and repossession, according to the district attorney’s office.
In January and March 2006, a local real estate agent was duped into investing $25,000 and then loaning $30,000 based on Whalen’s false representations that these funds would be used to purchase certain dairy cattle, according to the district attorney’s office. Whalen also stole 43 purebred sheep that this real estate agent owned by saying that he had a buyer for them. Whalen drove off with the sheep, but no payment ever came from the buyer.
Whalen was wanted by the Santa Clara County Office of the Sheriff for several weeks and was featured in the Most Wanted section of the Gilroy Dispatch and Morgan Hill Times.
A sentencing date has not yet been set, according to the district attorney’s office. Whalen faces a maximum possible sentence of 6 years and eight months in state prison. He remains out of custody on $250,000 bail.
