Tacker to appeal recent fraud conviction

BOONEVILLE — William T. “Tommy” Tacker, who was sentenced to 60 months in prison in July for defrauding the government out of $2.8 million in bioenergy subsidy money for a plant in Mississippi, has appealed his conviction.

The Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal reports that court records show Tacker filed the appeal last week with the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans.

The government says Tacker and a Tennessee attorney, H. Max Speight, filed false statements to obtain money from the U.S. Department of Agriculture for a biofuels business they operated in Nettleton.

Speight and Tacker were partners in the operation, Biodiesel of Mississippi Inc., which went bankrupt in 2006.

Speight has pleaded guilty to one count. He is awaiting sentencing.