TSCRA: Theft Protection

Law Enforcement and Livestock Inspection

Theft Reports TSCRA Inspector (trial date)

TSCRA special rangers make arrests in theft cases Williamson, Eggleston (reported 10-07)
Special ranger, sheriff's department recover $70,000 worth of stolen property Cummings (Reported 9-07)
Special rangers recover $19,000 worth of saddles Bradshaw, Cummings, Belt, Hutchison (reported 9-07)
Cattle Raisers help recover equipment stolen in two states Eggleston (reported 7-07)
Telltale signs warn rancher of theft Bradshaw, McKinney
(reported 12-06)
Cattle thief gets 10 years in prison Bradshaw (reported 10-06)
TSCRA investigators find cattle weapons, drugs Mast, Johnson, Belt (reported 8-06)
Alert neighbor helps TSCRA recover stolen cattle Baros, Barfknecht, Johnson (reported 7-06)
Investigators collar suspect in multiple thefts Johnson, Mast
(reported 6-06)
TSCRA provides quick justice for cattle theft victim Bohannon
(reported 5-06)
Market inspector suspicions lead to three arrests, confessions Johnson, Mast (reported 4-06)
Oklahoman man convicted for multiple thefts Eggleston (1-06)
TSCRA IDs day worker in multiple cattle thefts Hryhorchuk
(reported 11-05)
Inspectors investigate $4 million fraud Barfknecht, Eggleston
(reported 10-05)
Inspector busts cattle theft ring Williamson (12-04)
Defendant guilty in $1 million cattle embezzlement trial Rector (3-04)
Inspectors corral auction barn thief Andrews Bohannon, Roberts (9-03)
Officers Bust Walker Co. Cattle Theft Ring Davis (9-03)
Two arrested for killing cattle in North Texas Brittain (8-03)
Time-tested inspection program thwarts cattle thief Davis (11-02)
Inspector clears multiple thefts in Matagorda Co. Cook (7-02)
Accused Cattle Thief Goes on Crime Spree Brittain, McKinney (11-01)
Teamwork Stymies Cattle Thieves Baros, Korenek (9-01)
Muddled Thinking Exposes Cattle Thief Andrews (8-01)
Cattle Thief Kidnaps Driver at Gun Point Dickson, Strong (7-01)
Trusted Employee Steals Cattle Baros, Korenek (6-01)
Thief Steals Calves To Cover Bad Debt Williamson (5-01)
Dead Calves Found in Thieves’ Pickup Wade (5-01 and 3-01)
Suspect Admits He Kept Stray Horses Wade (1-01)
Property Recovered from Multiple Thefts Rushing (10-00)
Preconditioning Agent Steals Cattle Andrews (10-00)
TSCRA Inspector helps recover teen’s missing horse Brittain (8-00)
Thief Ordered To Pay $79,000 Restitution Andrews (8-00)
Theft Solved Quickly Wade (5-00)

Theft Reports

TSCRA special rangers make arrests in theft cases
Reported: 10-07
       Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association Special Ranger and District Supervisor Scott Williamson is quick to credit help from citizens, members of law enforcement and game wardens in the Oct. 4 arrest of three men suspected of cattle theft.
       "There is no way we could have accomplished in two or three weeks' time what we got done in one day," Williamson, who is based in Seymour, says.
       Earl Colbert Jr., Dale Ritchie and Lethal Wiseman Jr. — all residents of Hardeman County—were each arrested on two separate counts of third degree felonies of theft of 10 or more head of livestock and will be tied to crimes of more than 60 head of cattle in all.
       Williamson says for the last year and a half or so, he has been receiving reports of missing cattle from along the Pease River in Hardeman and Wilbarger counties.
       While investigating these cases, he received a call from fellow TSCRA Special Ranger Ben Eggleston, who was concerned with some information he came across while routinely checking sale barn records. Some of that information became evidence in one of the theft cases Williamson was investigating.
       On the evening of Oct. 3, Eggleston received information that the possible suspects were unloading cattle again at a sale barn in Oklahoma. Williamson immediately traveled to Elk City, Okla., where he and Eggleston worked straight through until the arrests were made the night of Oct. 4.
       In the process, the pair—with a lot of help from local law enforcement, citizens and game wardens—recovered 10 head of cattle and 67 more have been identified and accounted for.
       TSCRA special rangers are working on a separate but related case involving property and cattle stolen in southern Oklahoma.
       Williamson says the special rangers had received reports of livestock and equipment theft from Jackson, Harmon and Tillman counties. In the course of investigating those cases, he was contacted by the Jackson County Sheriff's Department following an arrest the department made the last weekend in September in a drug-related burglary case.
       He traveled to Oklahoma and worked with the sheriff's departments from Jackson and Harmon counties. While conducting interviews, he received information that led to evidence that helped clear a case of equipment and livestock theft that had been reported directly to him.
       Williamson expects this to blossom into another livestock theft investigation.
       In the Oklahoma case, Buck Stephens was arrested Sept. 28 and Nathan Bradley Roberson was arrested Sept. 29, both on theft charges.

Special Ranger, sheriff's department recover $70,000 worth of stolen property
Reported: 9-07
      Working together, the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association and the Tulsa County (Okla.) Sheriff’s Office have recovered $70,000 worth of stolen property in a joint investigation in the Tulsa County area.
      This is the second theft ring the special rangers have investigated this summer, with the first resulting in recovering $19,000 worth of saddles.
      The latest investigation began when TSCRA Special Ranger John Cummings, who serves District 4 in northeastern Oklahoma, received three reports of missing saddles and other tack in Tulsa and Osage Counties between July 9 and July 16. In each incidence, the suspects used bolt cutters to enter the barn or trailer where the tack was stored during the night or early morning.
      Special Ranger Cummings contacted Deputy Jim Wolfe of the Tulsa County Sheriff office and the two began a joint investigation into the crimes.
      On July 17, Cummings and Wolfe began searching area pawnshops and notified the deputies in Tulsa and Osage counties about the thefts and to be aware of anyone selling or pawning saddles.
      The next day, the Tulsa County Sheriff’s Office received a tip indicating someone was trying to pawn a western saddle at a local pawnshop. Tulsa County uniformed deputies responded and arrested Quinton Murphy, Tulsa, on charges of knowingly concealing stolen property and false declaration of ownership, both felony crimes.
      Information obtained from this arrest led to a search warrant being issued for a home in south Tulsa. Special Ranger Cummings joined Deputy Wolfe and Investigator Todd Cole of the Tulsa County Sheriff Office in the joint investigation of these crimes. During the subsequent search of the home on July 18, nine additional saddles, a large amount of assorted tack and equine equipment, and three horses were seized.
      Based on information obtained during the search warrant and interviews of suspects, Special Ranger Cummings, Deputy Wolfe and Tulsa County deputies began searching pawnshops in the Tulsa County area. During the investigation over the next several days a total of 18 additional saddles were recovered and held as evidence.
      Also during the joint investigation, 14 of the 15 saddles originally reported stolen to Special Ranger Cummings were identified and recovered.
      The joint investigation is continuing at this time, with charges and warrants pending on at least three additional suspects in Tulsa County. Additional suspects and possible charges are still being investigated. The joint investigation has also revealed that at least five subjects have been involved in at least 10 burglaries involving saddles, tack, horses, four wheelers, feed and possibly vehicles.

Special Rangers recover $19,000 worth
of saddles
Reported: 9-07
      Two dozen saddles, valued at approximately $19,000, have been recovered by the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association.
      On May 23, TSCRA Special Ranger John Bradshaw, was contacted regarding the theft of 10 saddles out of Washington County, Okla. Although Bradshaw, based in Paris, covers TSCRA’s District 12 in the far northeast portion of Texas, he was contacted because the suspects were believed to be from the Mount Pleasant area.
      Once the investigation began, it became clear that more than the original 10 saddles were involved. At last count, 31 saddles — 24 of which have been recovered by TSCRA Special Rangers so far — had been stolen and sold at horse sales and from the side of the road to people all over Texas, Oklahoma and even as far-off as Florida.
      “These saddles were all over the place,” Bradshaw says. “Like the one in Florida. I mean, good grief! The guy [who purchased those saddles] was on vacation and driving on the Indian Nation Turnpike and these kids with the saddles were set up at the gas station.
      “The guy was visiting his son who lives in Oklahoma and was pulling a horse trailer. The kids thought, ‘He’s pulling a horse trailer, let’s see if he’s interested in buying some saddles.’
      “So, they yelled at him to see if he wanted to look at some saddles. And he said, ‘Yeah, I’ll look at them.’ So he comes over and looks at them. And they say, “You can have any two out of the bunch for $250.” So the guy picks the best two saddles and pays part check, part cash. And that’s [the record from the check] how we tracked him down,” he says.
      Since the stolen property was so spread out — across state lines, even — it took cooperation from other TSCRA Special Rangers to recover such a large number of the saddles.
      Bradshaw is quick to credit new ranger John Cummings, who joined TSCRA after this case was in progress, but was a great asset because he serves the Oklahoma district where much of the theft occurred.
      Cummings not only recovered two of the saddles, but also communicated back and forth with Bradshaw to keep him informed of what was going on related to the case in Oklahoma.
      TSCRA Special Rangers Jimmy Belt, who serves District 23 in Southeast Texas, and Doug Hutchison, of South Central Texas’ District 20, also recovered saddles.
      The suspects, 18-year-old John Allen Davis, and 17-year-old Elijah Sims, have been arrested and have confessed to the crimes.

Cattle Raisers help recover equipment stolen in two states
Reported: 5-07
      TSCRA Special Ranger Ben Eggleston played a major role in a multi-agency theft investigation that led to the recovery of stolen equipment valued at more that $300,000.
      Eggleston entered the case when he got a call on March 29 from TSCRA member Jim Bill Anderson reporting that a Bobcat skid loader and 16-foot trailer were missing from his ranch east of Canadian, Texas.
      Anderson told Eggleston that he had notified the local sheriff's department when he discovered the property was missing and that the officers had already worked the crime scene. Eggleston immediately contacted Hemphill County Sheriff Gary Henderson to get details on all evidence and possible leads.
      On April 5, Eggleston drove to Canadian to plan the next steps in the investigation with Sheriff Henderson and Chief Deputy M.E. Burroughs. The lawman's instincts had been triggered by an e-mailed crime alert from Special Ranger Joe Rector on two men suspected of trailer theft in Weatherford, Okla.
      Clinton E. Waugh, 49, of Elgin, Okla., and James Patrick Lewis, 33, of Cyril, Okla., had been arrested for theft of a trailer south of Weatherford. When taken into custody, they had a police scanner, a 12-gauge shotgun, a GPS system, binoculars, spotlights, a notebook with locations, assorted locks—some of them cut—and various tools.
      That assortment was a pretty good indication that the suspects might have been involved in more than one theft, so the Weatherford Police Department sent out the crime alert.
      Eggleston immediately began to follow the lead. When Lt. Steve Moss of the Custer County, Oklahoma, Sheriff's Office advised that one of the suspects, was talking, Eggleston and Burroughs left for Oklahoma. They wanted to know if Waugh knew anything about the Anderson case. He did!
      Waugh said he had been working for Lewis, who told him to pick up the trailer and skid loader and move them to an oil field outside of Cyril. Lewis told Waugh he needed to change the tires on the trailer.
      Asked where the equipment had been taken from the oil field, Waugh said he had gone home, but suspected it had been sold to Ed Dutton, who ran a welding operation in Lindsey, Okla.
      The officers brought in Lewis, who refused to talk. However, they found a check from Ed Dutton Welding among his property when he was brought to the jail. Eggleston reported this information to Terry Cronkite, special agent with the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation, who said he would check it out.
      Cronkite called the next day to confirm that the loader and trailer had been found. When Eggleston, Burroughs and Henderson went to identify the property, they found much more.
      Eggleston noticed a Demco stock trailer that had been described as missing by the Beckham County Sheriff's Office. There were also two items stolen from Roger Mills County, Okla.—a two-horse stock trailer and a ranch feed pickup, which was located in a salvage yard outside of Lawton, Okla.
      Other items included a Polaris ATV, a fifth-wheel travel trailer, lawn mowers and several trailers. In all the officers seized equipment valued at about $300,000 and began tracking down the owners. Anderson reclaimed his skid loader and trailer, valued at $40,000.
      Thus far, Lewis and Waugh have been charged with Theft over $20,000 and under $100,000, a third degree felony.
      "The charges against these suspects are the result of the diligence and cooperation of officers in several agencies," Eggleston emphasized.
      These include TSCRA Special Ranger Joe Rector based in Oklahoma, the Weatherford Oklahoma Police Department, the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation, and sheriff's offices in Custer, Beckham and Roger Mills counties in Oklahoma and Hemphill County, Texas.

Telltale signs warn rancher of theft
Reported: 12-06
       Uneaten salt and mineral blocks and overgrown cattle trails were telltale signs to an absentee rancher that some of his cattle might be missing.
       LaVern Pfeiffer of Scribner, Neb., owns cattle in several states. In March 2005 he hired Chase Shelby to move about 85 head from Missouri to leased land in Red River County, Texas.
       The owner checked on the cattle periodically. Nothing seemed awry until Aug. 20, 2005, when he noticed the obvious clues that something was wrong.
       A quick count showed only 20 head in the pasture; there were supposed to be 85.
      Suspicious, Pfeiffer went to J and J Livestock Commission in nearby Texarkana. He explained the situation and asked if his hired hand had sold any cattle.
       The sale barn representative confirmed that Shelby had sold 10 head, claiming that Pfeiffer owed him money and had told him to sell the cattle as payment.
       Alarmed, Pfeiffer proceeded to Stone Livestock Auction in Mount Pleasant. Records there showed Shelby had sold 60 head since March 22. That’s when Pfeiffer called TSCRA Special Ranger John Bradshaw.
       The investigator followed Pfeiffer to his leased property where they discovered a pen of cattle that had not been penned the night before. Something was going on and they decided to let it play out.
       A few days later, Bradshaw went to Stone Livestock and discovered that Shelby had arranged to have cattle picked up from Pfeiffer’s land. Again, he had told sale barn personnel it was at his employer’s request.
       Special Ranger Bradshaw showed a photo line-up to sale barn employee Billy Lockey, who immediately identified Chase Shelby.
       Lockey advised that Shelby had delivered cattle to the barn numerous times. Each time, Shelby would arrive near the end of the sale, sell the cattle, pick up his check and be gone within 30 minutes.
       Bradshaw gathered all related paperwork from both sale barns. Cattle sold by Shelby matched those on Pfeiffer’s lease and some bore Bangs tag numbers from Iowa, Nebraska and Wyoming where Pfeiffer had purchased cattle.
       Bradshaw requested and received a warrant for Shelby’s arrest. Pfeiffer arranged to have the suspect and other workers come to the leased property on Aug. 30 to gather and work cattle.
       Bradshaw arrived, accompanied by TSCRA Special Ranger Troy McKinney and two officers from Red River County, Constable Tim Shimpock and Sheriff’s Investigator Freddy Booker.
       Shelby was taken into custody and subsequently admitted stealing 38 of Pfeiffer’s cattle. He said he had purchased the other cattle sold as bottle calves. Bradshaw was dubious.
       He questioned Shelby’s father and a volunteer witness who had helped Shelby transport cattle to the sale barn from Pfeiffer’s land. Both said Shelby had never purchased any cattle. One indicated that Shelby was in serious financial trouble.
       Pfeiffer reported that at least 160 of his cattle were missing. Bradshaw now had documentation that Shelby had sold at least 64 head and witnesses had testified that Shelby had not purchased any cattle of his own.
       Chase Edward Shelby, 21, of Maud, Texas, was charged with Theft of Livestock, a third degree felony. He was tried on Dec. 20, 2005, in the 102nd Judicial District Court of Red River County, Texas.
       Shelby was sentenced to 10 years probation, 240 hours of community service and ordered to pay $27,795.63 in restitution, a $1,000 fine and court costs of $688.

Cattle thief gets 10 years in prison
Reported: 10-06
       Anthony Edward Wilkins, 35, of Como, Texas, is serving 10 years in the state penitentiary after pleading guilty to two 2005 cattle thefts.
       TSCRA Special Ranger John Bradshaw was contacted about the first of the thefts on June 8, 2005. Franklin County Investigator Chris Mars called to report the theft of 11 to 15 unmarked black Angus yearlings and two bulls from Steve Wafford’s pens west of Mt. Vernon, Texas.
       Also missing were Wafford’s truck and trailer. He had left the keys in the truck and locked both inside the pens after gathering cattle.
       When Wafford returned the next day, the lock on the pens had been cut. His truck, trailer and some of the cattle were gone. Wafford called the Franklin County Sheriff’s Department, which found the truck and trailer in a hay pasture about a quarter of a mile away.
       That’s when Special Ranger Bradshaw entered the case. He and Investigator Jeremy Massey interviewed Wafford and searched the trailer for evidence. They found a shoeprint, but were unable to tie it to a possible suspect.
       That changed a week later when Bradshaw got a call on another case.
       Hopkins County Investigator Jace Anglin called to ask for Bradshaw’s help in finding three Holstein calves that had been reported missing by David Carr in the Como area.
       This time, the calves had ear marks. Bradshaw immediately alerted TSCRA Market Inspector James Comer at the Sulphur Springs Livestock Auction.
       Comer found them only a few hours later. He called Bradshaw to report that the owner had already arrived and identified the calves, valued at $700.
       Comer learned that the calves had originally been sold at Cattlemen’s Livestock in Paris, Texas. The barn owner had purchased them, and because they were dairy cattle, had taken them to Sulphur Springs.
       Information meticulously recorded at the sale barns showed that the original seller was Andy or Anthony Wilkins out of Como.
       Bradshaw went to the Paris barn, gathered all the pertinent information and called Lewis Tatum, the deputy assigned to the case in Hopkins County.
       Tatum went to the Wilkins residence and discovered the suspect was out of town. When he retuned, Tatum questioned him and Wilkins confessed to taking the Holstein calves.
       A few days later, Bradshaw and Tatum got permission from Mrs. Wilkins to look at the cattle on her land. Bradshaw had asked Steve Wafford to come along and see if he could identify the black bull on the property. Sure enough, it was his.
       When confronted with the identification, Wilkins confessed to the Franklin County theft and said he had sold the rest of the cattle in Durant, Okla.
       On June 22, Special Rangers Bradshaw and Troy McKinney went to Durant to try to locate the cattle.
       Bob Williams with the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture advised that they had been purchased by order buyers for a total of $6,930 and sent to feedlots. Because the cattle were not marked by ear or brand, they could not be recovered.
       Wilkins was subsequently tried for both thefts and pled guilty to both. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison for each theft, to run concurrently, and ordered to pay $7,000 in restitution and $278 in court costs.

TSCRA investigators find cattle, weapons, drugs
Reported: 8-06
      A routine call about four missing cows turned out to be anything but for TSCRA special rangers and investigators from Brazos and Robertson counties.
      That call put the officers on a trail that led to charges against a convicted felon for possession of illegal drugs and firearms, stolen trailers and welders, and seven counts of cattle theft totaling 42 head.
      It all started about 8:30 p.m. on Monday, July 24, when Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association Special Ranger Brent Mast got a call from James Jett, TSCRA’s market inspector in Bryan, Texas.
      TSCRA employs 80 market inspectors who inspect every head of cattle sold at the 119 auction markets in Texas, recording descriptions of the cattle and information on the buyer and seller.
      Mast is one of 29 TSCRA law enforcement officers stationed strategically throughout Texas and Oklahoma, who are commissioned as Special Rangers by the Texas Department of Public Safety and/or the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation.
      During 2005 TSCRA market inspectors identified a total of 4,766,235 head of cattle and TSCRA special rangers recovered or accounted for stolen livestock and ranch equipment valued at more than $6.2 million.
      Market Inspector Jett had gotten a call from Pat Shields, manager of the Brazos Valley Livestock Commission in Bryan, reporting that he thought four cattle just delivered had been stolen out of Robertson County. Jett immediately called Mast, who contacted Shields to get the details.
      The sale barn had been alerted earlier that day by Stanley McBride, a Robertson County rancher, who had noticed that three cows and a bull were missing when he made his usual rounds. The chain locking his gate had been cut and surrounding weeds had been trampled, suggesting the cattle had been loaded into a trailer.
      McBride reported the missing animals to his local sheriff’s department then took the initiative in his own hands and called the local sale barns. He described the cattle in detail—two big, red and white cows, a black cow and a big, Gert-type bull. All had an underhack in each ear.
      “I think those cattle have been delivered up here,” the market operator told Mast.
      They had been taken to the barn by Bryan Allen Renfrow, 20, to be sold under the name of Terry Carl Meadors, 48. Both men are from New Baden, Texas.
      McBride arrived at the barn about 5:30 p.m. and positively identified the cattle as his, less than 12 hours after finding them gone.
      The next day was sale day and the investigators got there early—TSCRA Special Rangers Mast and Tommy Johnson; Jerry Stover, chief deputy, and Joe Davis, investigator, with the Robertson County Sheriff’s Office; and Jeff Reeves, investigator with the Brazos County Sheriff’s Office.
      The officers arranged to have the cattle run through the sale, just in case Renfrow or Meadors showed up to watch. The suspects had put a hold on the check so they could pick it up in person.
      The investigators got into position, some in two pickups in the parking lot, others inside by the office. The suspects showed up about 4:30 p.m. Meadors waited outside in a truck while Renfrow went in to pick up a check for $2,962 made out to Meadors. When Renfrow returned to the truck, the officers blocked them in and arrested both men.
      TSCRA Special Ranger Jimmy Belt joined the officers for the follow-up investigations. Search warrants issued on Meadors’ property turned up a lot more than expected—more cattle, four trailers, some welders, 15 weapons and a stash of methamphetamines and marijuana—big trouble for Meadors, a convicted felon.
      The suspects subsequently admitted to six other cattle thefts, beginning last May. Investigators are currently trying to track down the 42 cattle involved.
      Rancher Stanley McBride, whose call started the case, loaded up his cattle and took them home. Other ranchers should take a lesson from McBride, says Mast.
      “He checked his cattle regularly and contacted law officers and local sale barns immediately. The sooner we know cattle have been taken, the better the chances the owner will get them back!”

Alert neighbor helps TSCRA recover stolen cattle
Reported: 7-06
      An alert neighbor provided the tip that led to the recovery of 11 registered Hereford cattle stolen from a Colorado County rancher. Carole Halla had reported 12 head, valued at about $18,000, missing from her property near Weimar last January.
      Tommy Johnson and Gary Baros, special rangers with Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association, and sheriff’s office investigators from Fayette and Colorado counties recovered 11 of the cattle on July 12; one had died.
      The officers had been investigating the case for months and had circulated descriptions of the missing cattle. Word-of-mouth paid off when an observant rancher in noticed some good-looking registered Herefords in a neighboring pasture that had previously contained only a couple of crossbreds.
      He mentioned them during a visit from TSCRA Special Ranger Chad Barfknecht who quickly notified local officers. They tracked down and questioned the individual who was leasing the pasture in the Carmine area of Fayette County.
      “His story didn’t match the circumstances,” said Special Ranger Johnson.
      “When we checked the cattle, we found that electronic ID tags had been surgically removed. However, one had been overlooked and the electronic identification matched a Halla cow.
      “There was also a Halla brand on another of the animals. We called Ms. Halla and she was able to identify the rest of the Herefords as hers.”
      The officers arrested Gary Dean Goebel on July 10 and charged him with possession of stolen cattle. Bond was set at $30,000.

Investigators collar suspect in multiple thefts
Reported: 6-06
      A Brazoria County rancher has confessed to a series of South Texas cattle thefts that spanned nine months, eight counties, 13 victims and 289 cattle valued at more that $250,000.
      Tommy Johnson and Brent Mast, special rangers with Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association, have been investigating the thefts since receiving a call from Nolan Ryan’s foreman last September.
      Seventeen cows and 14 calves were missing from Ryan’s China Grove Ranch at Rosharon, Texas. Another 16 calves were stolen from the Hall of Fame pitcher two weeks later.
      It was the beginning of case that eventually involved 14 thefts from 13 victims and an unusual lack of information that puzzled investigators.
      “We’ve had several thousand dollars of reward money out here for seven or eight months and nobody’s talked,” said Special Ranger Mast.
      The break finally came on June 13 when 10 calves, including one with unusual scars, were stolen from the Navasota sale barn.
      “The calf had a bunch of scars all over him from an accident where he was hung up underneath a feed trough,” explained Johnson. “An order-buyer recognized the calf when it was taken to a sale in Groesbeck and knew it had been stolen.”
      The astute owner had alerted local order-buyers when his calves turned up missing. When the calf came up for sale, the order-buyer called the owner, who immediately contacted Johnson.
      “We were able to trace the calf back to the Navasota barn, and the license plate on the drive-in ticket at the sale barn came back to our suspect,” he explained.
      The investigators finally had a name that could be checked against the database at TSCRA headquarters in Fort Worth.
      TSCRA employs 80 market inspectors who inspect every head of cattle sold at the 119 auction markets in Texas, recording descriptions of the cattle and information on the buyer and seller. During 2005 TSCRA market inspectors identified a total of 4,766,235 head.
      The market inspectors send their reports to TSCRA’s Fort Worth headquarters, where the information is processed for computer retrieval and distributed to more than 700 law enforcement agencies nationwide. That database is usually the first stop in any investigation conducted by TSCRA’s commissioned law enforcement officers.
      Johnson and Mast are two of the 29 officers TSCRA has stationed strategically throughout Texas and Oklahoma. All are thoroughly trained in law enforcement, have in-depth knowledge of the cattle industry and are commissioned as special rangers by the Texas Department of Public Safety and/or the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation. In 2005 TSCRA special rangers recovered or accounted for stolen livestock and ranch equipment valued at more than $6.2 million.
      A search of the database turned up a stack of forms detailing the specifics of cattle sold by the suspect on certain dates that matched the descriptions of the stolen cattle.
      “I had a big stack of those forms when we were interviewing him for the first time,” said Mast. “He thought right then that we knew everything that he’d done.”
      The suspect’s family hired an attorney who met with the investigators two days later. He told them the suspect wanted to cooperate. He would confess, show them whereabouts of 80 to 90 head of stolen cattle and give them back to their owners.
      The interview with the suspect explained the puzzling lack of information about the thefts.
      “He told me in an interview with him and his attorney that he did this all by himself,” said Mast. “He knew if he had a partner, his partner might talk and he’d get caught.”
      The suspect’s method of operation explained even more.
      “He took the stolen cattle to a pasture that he had leased and mixed them with his own cattle,” said Johnson. “He sold the calves periodically over a month or two at several different sale barns.
      “He didn’t sell any of the branded cattle. He kept those on a leased pasture. He was just going to let the cows calve out and sell the calves.
      “He told us he targeted people that didn’t have a TSCRA blue sign posted,” Johnson continued. “He said that when he saw those signs, he knew that the Cattle Raisers Association had special rangers who would continue the investigation until they found out who did it.
      “The majority of the individuals that we worked for weren’t TSCRA members when this thing started,” he added. “But that’s not a question we ask.”
      The investigators returned 83 of the stolen cattle to their owners on June 19 and hope to round up another 10 head today if they can get into the rain-sodden pasture.
      Mast said their next steps will be to get the remaining cattle penned, get the suspect’s confession on video tape and have him arrested in Brazoria County, and file formal criminal charges in eight different counties―Austin, Brazoria, Fort Bend, Galveston Grimes, Harris, Houston and Walker.
      “Now we’re in the paperwork stage―the lengthy recording of all the material that we need to make our criminal cases plain. All of those cases involve more than 10 head of livestock, which makes each one a Third Degree Felony punishable by two to 10 years in the Texas prison system.”
      The special rangers praised the cooperation among all the investigators, particularly Brazoria County Sheriff’s Office Investigator Jack Langdon. Other investigating agencies included the Texas Ranger’s office in Texas City; the sheriff’s offices in Fort Bend, Houston, Grimes and Walker counties; and police departments in Houston, Pearland, Manvel, Alvin and League City.
      “We knew that if we kept turning over enough rocks, we’d find out who was doing it,” said Johnson. “Nobody ever quit. We all kept working until we got the right break.”

TSCRA provides quick justice for cattle theft victim
Reported: 5-06
     A call to Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association resulted in quick justice for a Lynn County victim of cattle theft.
      J. R. Brady of Wilson, Texas, returned from a weekend trip out of town March 6 and noticed several of his cattle were missing: three recipient cows implanted with embryos at a cost of about $5,000 each and three registered Limousin calves ready for sale as show calves. Total value of the missing cattle was about $30,000.
      Brady called the sheriff’s office the next day. On March 10 he called Dean Bohannon, his area TSCRA inspector, and gave him a detailed description of the missing cattle, including gender, color, markings, brand, ear tag numbers and approximate weight. Such meticulous information gives an investigator a huge advantage, but Brady provided an even bigger bonus—a likely suspect and the probable location of sale.
      Brady told Inspector Bohannon that his employee, Mark Cruz, was having some serious financial problems and might have taken the cattle. He added that Cruz had previously hauled some of his cattle to the Muleshoe Livestock Auction. Bohannon immediately contacted Richard Wills, who inspects cattle for TSCRA at the Muleshoe sale. If Cruz had sold any of Brady’s cattle at Muleshoe, Wills would have a record of it.
      TSCRA employs 80 market inspectors who inspect every head of cattle sold at the 119 auction markets in Texas, recording descriptions of the cattle and information on the buyer and seller. During 2005 TSCRA market inspectors identified a total of 4,766,235 head.
      The market inspectors send their reports to TSCRA’s Fort Worth headquarters, where the information is processed for computer retrieval and distributed to more than 700 law enforcement agencies nationwide. That database is usually the first stop in any investigation conducted by TSCRA’s commissioned law enforcement officers, known as field inspectors.
      Bohannon is one of 29 TSCRA field inspectors stationed strategically throughout Texas and Oklahoma. All are thoroughly trained in law enforcement, have in-depth knowledge of the cattle industry and are commissioned as Special Rangers by the Texas Department of Public Safety and/or the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation. In 2005 TSCRA field inspectors recovered or accounted for stolen livestock and ranch equipment valued at more than $6.2 million.
      Bohannon was not disappointed; Wills told him that cattle matching the ones Brady had described had been checked in at Muleshoe on March 4 by Mark Cruz. Bohannon got copies of the sale papers and a check made out to Cruz.
      It was time to confront the suspect. Bohannon and Deputy Jim Bingham of the Lynn County Sheriff’s office went to Cruz’s house about 5:30 p.m. on March 13. No one appeared to be home, so Bohannon called the home phone number. When there was no answer, he called the cell phone.
      Cruz answered, but said he was in South Texas and wouldn’t be back for a week. The lawman’s instincts told him the suspect was lying. He left his business card with neighbors and asked them to call when Cruz returned. Sure enough, Bohannon got a call two hours later.
      He returned to the house and called Cruz on his cell phone. He told him he knew he was at home and asked him to come outside and talk. Cruz agreed. When Bohannon asked him about Brady’s cattle, Cruz exploded.
      He said a drug dealer had forced him to steal the cattle by threatening his family. The drug dealer made him cash the check and took all the money. Cruz then refused to talk further without an attorney.
      Bohannon now turned his full attention recovering Brady’s cattle. He used buyer’s sheets to trace where the missing animals had gone from the sale barn.
      The three recipient cows had been sold to a packer. Bohannon contacted the head cattle buyer and was told they and had been killed on March 7.
      The two purebred Limousin bull calves went to a ranch in New Mexico. Bohannon advised the New Mexico Brand Board of their location and was assured they would locate and hold the bulls. The buyer reported he still had the calves, but had castrated them.
      The purebred Limousin heifer was traced to a nearby ranch, where it had been commingled with seven similar calves. Bohannon advised the manager that Brady’s calf had a yellow ear tag with the number 30 on it. The manager pointed to one of the calves and said he remembered removing a tag with that number. On March 14 Brady identified the same calf as his.
      All of the cattle had been located and the culprit had confessed within four days of Brady’s call to TSCRA.
      Local legal authorities also moved quickly. On April 21, Mark Anguiano Cruz pled guilty to Third Degree Theft in the 106th Judicial District Court of Lynn County, Texas. He was sentenced to five years in the state penitentiary and instructed to pay $30,000 in restitution, a $1,000 fine and $261 in court costs.
       “TSCRA would like to both thank and commend Lynn County District Attorney Lynn Smith for the expeditious and efficient manner in which this case was prosecuted,” said Larry Gray, TSCRA director of law enforcement.

Market inspector suspicions lead to three arrests, confessions
Reported: 4-06
     Two ex-convicts and a third person have been arrested and property has been recovered by Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association (TSCRA) field inspectors and investigators from the Matagorda County Sheriff's office thanks, in large part, to the sharp eyes of TSCRA Market Inspector Patricia Harkins at the Columbus Livestock Market.
      TSCRA Inspector Tommy Johnson, District 24 , reports he and TSCRA Inspector Brent Mast, District 22, have closed three cases in an on-going series of livestock and equipment theft investigations in the counties near Houston.
      Terence Sidney, two prior convictions, Bay City, Texas; Clemins Brown, Van Vleck, Texas; and Ernest Thibideaux, one prior conviction, Bay City, have confessed to cattle and equipment thefts and are in jail.
      Theft charges have been brought against the three men for stealing a four-wheel-drive John Deere tractor, valued at $28,000 from Pedro Olguin, Midfield, Texas, in Matagorda County; six head of cattle, valued at $5,720 from Edgar Oncken, Navasota, Texas, who ranches in Matagorda County; and a flat-bed trailer, valued at $8,000 from Richard Priesmier, El Campo, Texas, Wharton County.
      According to Johnson, Market Inspector Harkins noticed new brands coming through the market at which she inspects the identification of the cattle sold. "She caught the brands and notified me," Johnson says. A week later, cattle were reported stolen from Edgar Onken's ranch in Matagorda County. Johnson checked the Onken brand and found it was the same as the brands that had raised Harkins' suspicions.
      "The market inspectors get used to seeing the same customers and the same brands every week," Johnson explains. "When somebody new shows up at an auction market, that sends up a red flag. She made this happen by being observant. Pat caught every number and brand on those stolen cattle," he says.
      Records from the sale barn lead Johnson to Terence Sidney's place. While there, Johnson discovered the flat-bed trailer and found the John Deere tractor hidden in the woods.
      Thibodeaux and Sidney were apprehended in Bay City. They implicated Clemins who came voluntarily to confess, with the strong encouragement of his father.

Oklahoma man convicted for multiple thefts
Trial Date: 1-06
      An Oklahoma man will spend six years in the state penitentiary for multiple offenses investigated by TSCRA Special Ranger Ben Eggleston.
      The TSCRA lawman was brought into the case by officers from the Alfalfa County, Okla., Sheriff’s Department. They knew Eggleston had the specialized skills and contacts to find out what happened to 19 head of cattle stolen from the pens at the Cherokee Livestock Auction.
      Alfalfa County officers also advised Eggleston that a local man, Cody Eugene Kramp, 25, was boasting he had $11,000 in the bank from selling cattle belonging to his dead grandfather. Problem was, his grandfather was still very much alive.
      A check with several area livestock markets quickly showed Eggleston that Kramp had sold seven head of cattle at the Woodward Livestock Auction on Oct. 11, 2005. But the descriptions didn’t match the Cherokee cattle.
      Eggleston and deputies from Alfalfa and Woods counties located the suspect, and during an interview, Kramp confessed to an extensive stealing spree.
      He said that on Sept. 30, he had borrowed a livestock trailer to steal seven head of cattle belonging to Jariod Ward from the pens of Greg Pinegar near Alva, Okla. He sorted out the branded cattle and took four unbranded calves to the livestock auction in Medicine Lodge, Kan., where he sold them for $1,158,77.
      On Oct. 9, Kramp stole several items of miscellaneous equipment valued at $1,975 from the Chatman Farm near Alva, Okla.
      A few days later, he took nine cattle from Jim Leslie near Dacoma, Okla., and sold seven of them at Woodward for $4,066. He also took a $4,000 Honda four-wheeler from nearby Glass Farms.
      On Oct. 25, Kramp swiped a flatbed Ford dually pickup from a super lube in Alva and drove to a local Western wear store where he broke in and helped himself to several pairs of jeans and shirts.
      Then he snatched a blue gooseneck trailer from from another location, drove to the Cherokee Livestock Auction, where he stole 19 head of cattle, and hauled them to the Medicine Lodge livestock auction where he sold them for $11,963.
      All totalled, Kramp had stolen $20,394.65 worth of livestock and equipment.
      He pled guilty in separate trials on Jan. 23, 2006, in Woods County and Jan. 25. 2006, in Alfalfa County. In each trial, he was sentenced to 10 years in the state penitentiary, with four of the years suspended. The sentences will run concurrently. He was also ordered to pay restitution of $19,991.56.
      Investigators in the case included Shane Vore, under sheriff, Woods County, Okla., and Dennis Frisk, under sheriff, Alfalfa County, Okla.

TSCRA IDs day worker in multiple cattle thefts
Reported: 11-05
      A day worker who moonlighted stealing cattle from his employers in Chambers and Jefferson counties has been arrested and formally charged based on information gathered by Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association inspectors.
      Reginald Bernard Kirksey of Winnie, Texas, was arrested on Nov. 16 and charged with multiple counts of felony theft of livestock. He is currently in the Chambers County jail in lieu of $45,000 bond on all counts.
      TSCRA Field Inspector Larry Hryhorchuk, who spearheaded the investigation, said the suspect has cleared up the whereabouts of about 50 head of cattle, ‘but that doesn’t begin to cover it. This is an ongoing investigation, with multiple victims, involving more than 100 head of cattle.”
      Hryhorchuk is one of 29 TSCRA livestock theft investigators stationed strategically throughout Texas and Oklahoma. These commissioned officers combine thorough training in all facets of law enforcement with a comprehensive knowledge of the cattle industry. In 2004 they recovered or accounted for more than $4 million in stolen livestock and equipment.
      A tip from a savvy TSCRA market inspector started Hryhorchuk gathering information before any of the thefts had been reported.
      “Lucian Fussell, the TSCRA market inspector over at Kirbyville, notified me that there was a guy over there selling cattle coming from this part of the country. He couldn’t figure out why they were going to Kirbyville instead of Raywood. It was unusual, so we started checking.”
      TSCRA’s 77 market inspectors are the first line of defense against livestock theft. They monitor 116 cattle auctions in Texas, meticulously recording identifying characteristics such as brands, sex, color, tags, horns and ear marks. They also document the seller’s name, address and vehicle license number.
      The information is sent to TSCRA headquarters where it is entered into a computer brand recording and retrieval system. Using information from this system, Hryhorchuk began building a profile of the individual selling cattle at Kirbyville. When he finally got a complaint about missing cattle, the information fit!
      “I got hold of the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department and we went to work on it. We had enough information to arrest and charge him,” said Hryhorchuk. “Where he was checking cattle in, how many and where. The arrest was made by the Chambers County Sheriff’’s Department yesterday.”
      Assisting officers were Investigator David Robalais from Chambers County and Charles Meloncon from Jefferson County.
      Hryhorchuk said the suspect had been day working for every one of the ranchers he stole cattle from.
      “He knew where the cattle were. He’d get them into a pen with range cubes, close ’em up and come back later and load ’em and haul ’em―one to 15 head at a time. A lot of the owners didn’t even know they were gone.”

Inspectors investigate $4 million fraud
Reported: Oct. 21, 2005
      Inspectors with Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association have uncovered evidence in a $4 million cattle fraud involving producers in four states.
      Monte J. Sharp, 45, of Hopeton, Okla., has been arrested on a Fugitive from Justice Warrant from Williamson County, Texas, where he has been charged with felony theft of 1,061 head of cattle from Capitol Land and Cattle Co. in Schwertner, Texas.
      The cattle, valued at nearly $700,000, were placed with Sharp for preconditioning at his lot near Alva, Okla. Preconditioning is a vaccination, nutrition and management program designed to prepare young cattle to withstand the stress associated with weaning and shipment to a feedlot.
      Sharp then illegally financed the cattle through Brookover Feed Yards in Garden City, Kan. He received a loan for 75 percent of their market value, secured by the future sale after they had been “finished” or fed up to market weight.
      “Basically, he was financing cattle that didn’t belong to him,” explained TSCRA Inspector Chad Barfknecht.
      Sharp did this repeatedly, with victims as far away as North Carolina. “We have information that he has placed over 20,000 head of cattle in feedlots in Kansas and Oklahoma,” Barfknecht added.
      Owners of Forester Cattle Co. in Larue, Texas, claim Sharp sold 98 of their cattle, valued at $60,000. In Kentucky, he is charged with illegally financing 88 heifers worth about $59,000.
      “We’ll probably continue to discover new victims for several months,” said TSCRA Inspector Ben Eggleston. “Fact is, we still don’t know how big this thing will end up being.”

Inspector busts cattle theft ring
Trial Date: Dec. 30, 2004
      A hot-iron brand on the hip of a cow exposed a serial thief who eventually confessed to 23 thefts in Texas and Oklahoma over a period of 18 months.
      TSCRA Inspector Scott Williamson had been watching the suspect for several months when the breakthrough came.
      In February 2004, Williamson was investigating multiple property crimes in several Texas and Oklahoma counties when Inspector H.D. Brittain suggested he take a look at Roddy Dean Pippin.
      The 20-year-old Pippin from Odell, Texas, was suspected of stealing some saddles in Brittain’s district. Williamson started gathering information.
      The tip-off came on July 2, 2004, when a rancher’s daughter reported the license number of a pickup hauling cattle through Odell at 1:30 a.m.
      Williamson asked the sheriffs” departments in Wilbarger and Hardeman counties to stop anyone pulling a trailer after 10 p.m. and let him know. He got the call at 3:30 a.m. on Aug. 8. The same pickup was moving cattle through Odell, and Roddy Dean Pippin was driving.
      Williamson left immediately and discovered Pippin with eight head of cattle, some of which were branded with a Lazy J on the left hip. Pippin claimed to have bought them from a Terry Peterson at the Mountain View sale. A call to the sale owner revealed that Terry Peterson did not exist.
      Williamson began contacting inspectors and law enforcement officers in the surrounding counties. By 8 a.m. he learned that the cattle branded with the Lazy J had been stolen from Joe Lindsey of Quanah during the night.
      When confronted, Pippin confessed to stealing Lindsey’s cattle. In a rush of relief, he also confessed to numerous other crimes and identified several co-conspirators. By the time Pippin was through, Williamson had to call in Inspectors Brittain and Ken Miniard to help in searching for and seizing stolen property.
      On Dec. 30, 2004, Pippin was tried in the 46th Judicial District Court in Hardeman County, Texas on four felony counts of theft of livestock valued at a total of nearly $25,000.
      He pleaded guilty to stealing eight head of cattle from Joe Lindsey of Quanah, Texas; 10 head of cattle in two separate thefts from Gerald Riley of Quanah; 24 head of cattle in three separate thefts from Butch Tabor of Quanah; and three head of cattle from Kenneth McNabb of Quanah.
      Pippin also agreed to plead guilty to two Oklahoma thefts in exchange for dismissal of the remaining charges in Texas and Oklahoma. He was also required to testify in court against six co-conspirators.
      Investigators included TSCRA inspectors Williamson, Brittain and Miniard; Larry Lee, Wilbarger County chief deputy; Kenny Alexander, Wilbarger County deputy; Matt Thompson, Texas Parks & Wildlife Department game warden; and Randy Acres, Hardeman County sheriff.
      TSCRA inspectors also recovered and returned a volume of property stolen by Pippin and his co-conspirators from several other individuals. Included were 80 head of cattle, 10 trailers, saddles, cattle panels and numerous tools.
      Inspector Williamson emphasizes that the break in this case was the hot iron brand on one of the cows.
      “It’s still the best form of identification and should be continued even if electronic identification becomes mandatory. You can’t read an electronic tag from a distance, but I can drive by a suspect’s pasture and see a brand. And a brand can’t be removed.”
      Convicted theft ring felon Pippin admitted that the first thing he did after stealing someone’s cattle was to get rid of the tags!

Inspectors corral auction barn thief
Trial: September 2003
      Teamwork and legwork by TSCRA field inspectors led to a confession from a thief responsible for several thefts from Texas auction barns.
      Employees from Jordan Cattle Auction in San Saba called Inspector Jack Andrews on three separate occasions between Oct. 18, 2001, and June and June 20, 2002, to report missing cattle A total of 49 steers had been taken.
      Each time, Andrews e-mailed meticulous descriptions of the missing cattle to all TSCRA inspectors. On June 26, 2002, he got a call from Inspector Joe Roberts. Coleman Cattle Auction was missing 24 yearlings; seven were branded.