By JOSH FUNK

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) -- A federal grand jury has indicted the 80-year-old former chairman and CEO of Minden Exchange Bank & Trust Co., accusing him of stealing more than $11 million.

The indictment unsealed Thursday said Ray Van Norman of Kearney took the money between 1997 and June 30, 2006, by creating fake lines of credit and other measures.

U.S. Attorney Joe Stecher's office says Van Norman used the money to pay down loans related to cattle-feeding clubs Van Norman had an interest in.

The indictment says Van Norman renewed old loans and advanced new loans to unqualified borrowers.

Van Norman is also accused of falsifying financial statements and concealing the nature of the loans from regulators.

Bank President Rich Armstrong did not immediately respond to a message left Thursday afternoon.

Efforts to reach Van Norman were unsuccessful. His phone number was not listed in public directories.

Armstrong previously said no customer money was lost when the bank disclosed in 2006 that some of its funds had been misappropriated.

Armstrong said then that the missing money came from the bank's own capital funds, but the bank remained sound. Armstrong's family owns controlling interest in the bank.

Van Norman could be sentenced to decades in federal prison if he were found guilty of all 26 counts in the indictment.

Van Norman is accused of withdrawing $150,000 from an account for the Kearney County Community Foundation and depositing the funds into an account held by L-V Farms Inc. L-V Farms was a cattle-feeder club that Van Norman owned in part.

The indictment also accuses Van Norman of reporting the existence of livestock as assets and collateral when he knew the animals did not exist.



The indictment does not outline how a cattle-feeder club works. A call from The Associated Press to U.S. Attorney Stecher was not immediately returned.