KANSAS, January 6 - TOPEKA – (January 6, 2023) – A Shawnee County man has been ordered to repay nearly $185,000 in restitution for his conviction on three charges related to failure to repay loans to a Kansas bank, Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt said today.

Justin Vasquez, 41, of Topeka, was sentenced in Shawnee County District Court on three felony counts of impairing a security interest. Judge C. William Ossman sentenced Vasquez to repay a Shawnee County bank $184,936 and serve 12 months of probation. Vasquez pleaded no contest to the charges in November 2022.

The case was investigated by Special Agent Jim Pinegar of the Livestock/Brand Investigation Unit of Schmidt’s office. Vasquez was found to have secured loans totaling approximately $416,000 between May 2017 and December 2017 for the purchase of cattle. Terms of the loans required Vasquez to use the proceeds of the sale of the cattle to repay the loans. Vasquez sold the cattle between June 2017 and June 2019 but did not repay the loan. He told the bank initially that the cattle were stolen, but later admitted they had been sold.

The case, State v. Justin Vasquez, 22-CR-1053, was prosecuted by Deputy Attorney General Stacy Edwards of Schmidt’s office.