Hunnewell man joins brother, mother in custody for alleged role in $3.5 million embezzlement case in Monroe City

PARIS, Mo. — Another member of a Hunnewell family is in custody and charged with embezzling $3.5 million from a livestock auction house in Monroe City.

Evan M. Edlin, 38, turned himself into the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office on Tuesday, June 18. He is lodged in the Randolph County Jail in Moberly on $250,000 bond. A Monroe County warrant was issued for his arrest on April 15. He has been charged with:

• One count of money laundering, a Class B felony punishable for between five and 15 years in the Missouri Department of Corrections;
• Five counts of stealing $25,000 or more, a Class C felony punishable for between three and 10 years in the DOC;
• One count of forgery (on a tax return), a Class D felony punishable for up to seven years in prison or one year in the county jail;

Evan Edlin appeared by video in Monroe County Circuit Court on Thursday before Judge Talley Smith. St. Louis attorney Matt Radefeld represented him. He waived a preliminary hearing on Friday.

Ryan M. Edlin, 41, Evan Edlin’s brother, also is in the Randolph County Jail. Ryan Edlin was arrested June 4 in Brown County, Ill. He originally was charged with the same crimes as Evan Edlin, as well as one count of deceptive business practice, a Class A misdemeanor punishable for up to one year in jail.

However, Nicole Volkert, prosecuting attorney for Monroe County, filed an amended complaint on Tuesday, June 18. She added two more forgery counts, claiming they occurred on Oct. 2, Oct. 9 and Oct. 16, 2023.

A preliminary hearing for Ryan Edlin was held before Smith on Thursday. Smith ruled Friday for Ryan Edlin to be bound over on all nine counts.

Anna M. Edlin, 64, the mother of the two men, was charged with the same money laundering, stealing and forgery counts as Evan Edlin. She was arrested April 15 in Monroe County, arraigned on April 16 and housed in the Marion County Jail. 

Circuit Judge Rachel Bringer-Shepherd ordered on June 6 for Anna Edlin’s bond to be amended to $100,000 and to have GPS monitoring installed. Anna Edlin posted 10 percent of her bond and was released from the Marion County Jail. She also is prohibited from using her accounts at Macon-Atlanta (MA) Bank. 

Anna Edlin is represented by Clayton attorney Scott Rosenblum. 

All three of the Edlins will be arraigned in the Monroe County Courthouse on Thursday, June 27.

A probable cause statement provided April 11 by Monroe County Sheriff Joe Colston said he received a criminal complaint alleging that Ryan Edlin embezzled approximately $3.5 million during his employment from March 2019 to October 2023 at a local business — which was redacted on the statement but since has been determined to be Heinold Hog Markets, LLC.

Ryan Edlin started his employment at Heinold as a livestock handler in 2015. Eventually he became an administrative worker and office manager of the company’s buying station in Monroe City. He began writing checks, completing invoices and entering inventory of purchased animals.  He wrote a Heinold check on March 14, 2019, for $1,299.76 to Marec Farms, allegedly for the purchase of hogs. That fact remained unknown until early 2024.

Heinold terminated Edlin’s employment on Nov. 3, 2023.

Colston wrote he reviewed bank records associated with Edlin, as well as checks, invoices and computer data entry. He also verified a registration for Marec Farms, a fictitious business filed by Edlin with the Missouri Secretary of State’s office. Marec Farms is an acronym for the Edlin family members — Michael and Anna, the parents; and Ryan, Evan and Curtis, their sons.

His investigation revealed hundreds of checks written during Edlin’s employment, with amounts ranging from a few hundred dollars to a few thousand dollars, then graduating increasing to weekly five-figure checks. Colston listed a series of eight checks written in September and October 2023 for between $19,450 and $22,765.

Colston wrote that data was entered into Heinold’s computer system under Edlin’s login credentials initiating invoices for payments for hogs that were not sold — in fact, they didn’t exist at all.  A search warrant at a property (name redacted) revealed no evidence of the existence of hogs or a hog operation.

The fraudulent computer data entries led to the generation of checks that were deposited with Edlin’s signature. It matched the signature cards acquired from banks as well as financial documents seized during a search warrant executed on March 11. Many deposits were made using mobile devices, and funds regularly were transferred between accounts.

Justin Sullivan, attorney for Heinold Hog Markets, also filed a civil suit on March 5 against Ryan Edlin. A writ of attachment — in which a court orders the attachment or seizure of property described in the writ — filed against Ryan Edlin that included property he owned:

• Property located adjected to Monroe Road in Monroe County.
• Bank accounts at Bank of America, U.S. Bank and MA Bank in which embezzled funds were deposited.
• Farm machinery including a John Deere 6145 Prem. Cab Tractor, a Caterpillar 299D2 Compact Track Loader, a Caterpillar 330C Large Hydraulic Excavator and bailing equipment, wagons and other machinery and equipment.
• More than 250 firearms, including rifles, shotguns, pistols and revolvers.

Sullivan filed a motion for a judgment by default against Ryan Edlin and Anna Edlin for $3,586669.55. Judge Rachel Bringer-Shepherd entered a judgment on the motion on June 6 in favor of Heinold Hog Markets. She also ruled Heinold Hog Market should recover damages of pre-judgment interest from April 2 at the statutory rate of 9 percent, plus post-judgment interest at the statutory rate of 9 percent.