Topeka ? An Overland Park man pleaded guilty last week to 18 counts of mail fraud stemming from his operation of a Cairo, Kan., agricultural supply company.

Richard M. Hassur, 71, faces up to 30 years in federal prison without parole when he is sentenced in February. He also has agreed to pay $197,524.70 in restitution.

Hassur admitted in his plea that while he was owner, president and sole shareholder of Agri-Ventures Inc., the company sold memberships to farmers for $3,500 each, which allowed them to purchase a variety of products from Agri-Ventures at a better price than they could find locally.

Beginning in 1993, Hassur began taking money for himself from Agri-Ventures. In 1994, he took about $481,000, and a year later he took roughly $503,000, all of which was listed as “loans to shareholders” on Agri-Ventures’ corporate annual reports.

By September 1996, Agri-Ventures was struggling and couldn’t obtain products because suppliers had not been paid. Still, Hassur admitted that Agri-Venture salespeople continued to sell memberships to farmers and made false representations about the products the company could provide.

Much of the scheme was carried out in correspondence delivered by the U.S. Postal Service, prosecutors said.

Hassur entered his plea Thursday in U.S. District Court.