Businessman convicted in scrap metal racketeering scheme

FOND DU LAC, Wis. (AP) — A businessman has been convicted in a scheme that bilked a Fond du Lac firm out of $14 million.

WLUK-TV reports Sterling Kienbaum, of Oshkosh, pleaded no contest to racketeering and theft by false representation Thursday.

Four other theft counts were dismissed, according to court records.

Prosecutors say Kienbaum operated Fox Valley Iron & Metal and paid employees at Sadoff Iron & Meta from 2008 to 2015 to accept overloaded scrap vehicles filled with dirt, falsely inflating the metal content. Two Sadoff workers were convicted and placed on probation

Kienbaum is to be sentenced on June 5.