Sisters Who Plucked Russians Are Sentenced

Two sisters promised 2,200 tons of frozen chicken but flew the coop with the $882,000 down payment, leaving their broker facing irate Russians who threatened to put his fingers on the chopping block.

But the sisters say they didn’t mean to do it.

“We feel it was bad management,” said Berdee Renatte Howard. “We weren’t the best-managed company, and we see that now.”

Howard, 43, pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 46 months in federal prison. Her sister, Cassandra Ruffin, 49, will begin a 13-month term next month.

The sisters posed as sales executives for a chicken company three years ago and made a deal with Nathan Hunt, a food broker representing Russian buyers.

Authorities say that, instead of turning around and arranging to ship all that frozen poultry, the sisters pocketed the down payment and used it to travel the world and buy expensive cats. Investigators have not been able to trace all the money.

Hunt has testified that his Russian clients, out their down payment and waiting in vain for chicken, threatened to cut off one of his little fingers, explaining that the procedure was proven effective in getting people to pay their debts.