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Denny

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Jun 24, 2009 4:03 pm US/Central Minnesota Man Accused Of Cattle TheftWATERTOWN, S.D. (AP) ―
Codington County authorities have charged a 52-year-old Pierz, Minn., man with aggravated grand theft after 188 head of cattle allegedly were stolen from a Watertown auction barn March 3.

Sheriff Toby Wishard says Joey "Joe" Varner was arrested Tuesday afternoon in Fergus Falls, Minn. and was taken to the Ottertail County, Minn., jail.

The cattle have been located and are at an undisclosed site. They were under U.S. Bankruptcy Court control, pending their sale in Watertown.

Varner, a co-owner of Watertown Livestock, was released after posting $100,000 bond. He is to be in court in Watertown July 14. He has ownership interests in other livestock auction barns in South Dakota, Minnesota and North Dakota.

The maximum penalty for aggravated grand theft is 15 years in prison and a $30,000 fine.
 
I thought being a thief was a prerequisite of running a sale barn lol. He must not be too swift if he actually had to physically take cattle most do well enough sorting and invoicing lol.
 
All I know is he has bought alot of South Dakota sale barns and then run them into the ground. Good news for the two barns in Aberdeen not owned by him though.
 
Bullhauler said:
Well Redfield, now closed, Miller, Highmore now closed, Herried, one in Watertown and at least one out west river.[/quote

Mn he own's Bagley,Winger,Pierz,Long Prairie,Fergus Fall's and Motley
Click to expand...
 
Bullhauler said:
Well Redfield, now closed, Miller, Highmore now closed, Herried, one in Watertown and at least one out west river.
Click to expand...

I think McLaughlin Livestock is owned by this dude from Minnesoty!
It's so far into the ground, only thing to get it out is the Ulmer boys! :D
 
this news doesn't suprise me. I have a source that predicted Joe the day these cattle were reported missing. My question, is why did he do it? they say they have located the cattle, and they were still in Joes posestion ?? my source says the cattle were probably located some time ago, but nothing was said about it until after the world auctioneer contest was over with, seems it was held in fergus falls, one of joes barns. i also heard he had a million dollar bond, but needed 100,000 cash to be released from jail, somehow he came up with it. i met joe many years ago, and have heard much about him since then about him buying up all these sale barns. i just hope he gets the book thrown at him, or the tree as Denny suggested.
 
Frank in West Dakota said:
Bullhauler said:
Well Redfield, now closed, Miller, Highmore now closed, Herried, one in Watertown and at least one out west river.
Click to expand...

I think McLaughlin Livestock is owned by this dude from Minnesoty!
It's so far into the ground, only thing to get it out is the Ulmer boys! :D
Click to expand...

They have done it before, They could do it again. To bad Gordy isn't still around, he could for sure!
 
Justin said:
My question, is why did he do it? they say they have located the cattle, and they were still in Joes posestion ?? my source says the cattle were probably located some time ago, but nothing was said about it until after the world auctioneer contest was over with, seems it was held in fergus falls, one of joes barns. i also heard he had a million dollar bond, but needed 100,000 cash to be released from jail, somehow he came up with it.
Click to expand...

My guess is that he did it to have some cash...if he was in bankruptcy, all his assets are tied up and he can't do anything with them without permission of the court. If the cattle get "stolen", well then bankruptcy court can't control them and pay creditors unless they are found. Also, insurance would kick in if the barn was insured...haven't heard if there was any insurance claim filed.

No one said thieves are smart, and Joe ranks among the dumbest in my opinion.... Cattle were probably located awhile ago, but law enforcement didn't do anything because they were either gathering the necessary evidence against Joe -- or they were waiting for him to make a move that would subject him to even greater penalties.

100,000 cash on a million dollar bond would be about right -- 10% of the bond amount in cash...bet that bailbondsman will be keeping tight quarters with him....

The above guesses were just that -- guesses
 
mtn_90 said:
Justin said:
My question, is why did he do it? they say they have located the cattle, and they were still in Joes posestion ?? my source says the cattle were probably located some time ago, but nothing was said about it until after the world auctioneer contest was over with, seems it was held in fergus falls, one of joes barns. i also heard he had a million dollar bond, but needed 100,000 cash to be released from jail, somehow he came up with it.
Click to expand...

My guess is that he did it to have some cash...if he was in bankruptcy, all his assets are tied up and he can't do anything with them without permission of the court. If the cattle get "stolen", well then bankruptcy court can't control them and pay creditors unless they are found. Also, insurance would kick in if the barn was insured...haven't heard if there was any insurance claim filed.

No one said thieves are smart, and Joe ranks among the dumbest in my opinion.... Cattle were probably located awhile ago, but law enforcement didn't do anything because they were either gathering the necessary evidence against Joe -- or they were waiting for him to make a move that would subject him to even greater penalties.

100,000 cash on a million dollar bond would be about right -- 10% of the bond amount in cash...bet that bailbondsman will be keeping tight quarters with him....

The above guesses were just that -- guesses
Click to expand...

but the cattle stolen were not joes and he was not in bankruptcy court. this is what i know and these are facts. the stolen cattle belong to a man who was in bankruptcy court and owed the Bagley MN barn $40,000 the Herried SD barn $50,000 and the Watertown SD(were the cattle were stolen from)$75,000. all of these barns owned by joe.
so i guess joe figured the only way the get his money was to roll in durning the night and load up these cattle. but how joe figured that that was the way to get even is beyond me. in theory maybe the cattle were joes, but i can't believe he thought the law would see it that way. like my five year old daughter says, "seemed like a good idea at the time" :?
 
Sound's like a partner had possession of the cattle which he owed $270,000 to Joe for then word has it the guy filed Bankruptcy. I guess Joe just went and repossessed his cattle only problem was the papers had already been signed. So now it's a big mess I guess if the shoes were on my feet I'd have most likely done the same thing.
 
Denny said:
Sound's like a partner had possession of the cattle which he owed $270,000 to Joe for then word has it the guy filed Bankruptcy. I guess Joe just went and repossessed his cattle only problem was the papers had already been signed. So now it's a big mess I guess if the shoes were on my feet I'd have most likely done the same thing.
Click to expand...

i'm not saying joe doesn't have a partner(s) out there that owes him money, but thats not the case here. joe and the man who filed bankruptcy and "owned" the stolen cattle, were not in partnership and cattle were not joes. joe had no business taking those cattle, granted the guy owed joe a $hit load of money, sometimes, even joe needs to go by the book.
 

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