LeDoux sentenced to 18 months in prison

Nearly a year after pleading guilty to defrauding a western Kansas bank to the tune of $460,000, former Holton legislator Trent LeDoux was sentenced Monday to 18 months in federal prison on the bank fraud charge, according to a spokesman for U.S. Attorney Barry Grissom.

LeDoux, 40, who represented Jackson County in the 50th District in the Kansas House of Representatives from May of 2011 through the end of 2012, was also ordered to pay $461,000 in restitution to Farmers and Merchants Bank of Colby, it was reported.

It was also reported that LeDoux’s sentence would be delayed for 90 days, as he was scheduled for surgery this morning to remove his spleen and pancreas. Following Monday’s sentencing hearing, he said that he suffers from acute pancreatitis and leukemia.

Sentencing for LeDoux had been delayed four times due to health reasons, it was reported. He had originally been charged in March of 2014 with three counts of bank fraud and two counts of money laundering based on activities that allegedly occurred in 2011 and 2012, and he pleaded guilty to the single bank fraud charge in May of 2014.

LeDoux took to social media on Tuesday to say that while “my heart is filled with regret and shame” for his actions, he is thankful for those who have “blessed me with incredible compassion and forgiveness.”

“I am truly sorry I let so many people down,” he said. “I’ll never be able to adequately repay all your acts of compassion and kindness. But in however many days God has left for me, I will work tirelessly to help others and to do good.”

It was reported that during the sentencing hearing, Brent Wiedeman, president of the Colby bank, said he approved LeDoux’s loans and asked for stiffer sentencing. Wiedeman also stated that it would take his bank “years” to recover its losses from the fraud.

In his guilty plea, LeDoux admitted that he applied for three loans totaling more than $465,000 from the Colby bank, reportedly telling bank officials that he intended to buy cattle that would also serve as collateral for the loans. It was reported that he had used some of the money to pay off existing debts and make contributions to a political campaign account connected to his 2012 campaign for the 61st District Kansas House of Representatives seat.

LeDoux had been chosen in 2011 to serve as 50th District representative in the Kansas House of Representatives, replacing the late Rocky Fund. But in February of 2012, LeDoux was diagnosed with acute pancreatitis, and he spent several months in hospital, missing a significant amount of time in the Legislature as a result.

After redistricting placed him in the 61st District, LeDoux ran unsuccessfully in the 2012 Republican primary against Rep. Richard Carlson, an incumbent who was serving in the then-61st District.

The original sentencing date for LeDoux was set in August 2014 but was continued a month, reportedly because his attorney had been appointed to participate in another trial set to begin on the same date as the sentencing. The second date was continued to Nov. 17 because LeDoux had been scheduled for surgery.

The November date was continued to January on a motion filed by his attorney citing LeDoux’s hospitalization for treatment of “complications developing from his severe pancreatitis,” and the January date was also continued until Monday because LeDoux was seeking medical treatment.

Grissom commended the FBI and Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard Hathaway for their work on the case, it was reported.