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Thank God for Brand Inspection

  • Thread starter Thread starter Anonymous
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Anonymous

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This fellow leases several Indian lease pastures around me- having one that connects to the north- and one that connects to the east...Many of the cattle they've found belong to my neighbors- but none of mine thankfully...
Maybe always having my buddies Smith & Wesson along helped thwart his thoughts towards mine...I've observed every time we talked he obviously took notice.... :wink:

Man accused of cattle rustling
By Gazette News Services

WOLF POINT - A Poplar man is jailed on $250,000 bail, accused of rustling cattle.

A criminal information filed in District Court in Roosevelt County alleges that Richard Holen stole 37 head of cattle in eight incidents dating back to October of last year.

The document indicates that most of the cattle were stolen Sept. 4 of this year, and some allegedly were taken as recently as Monday.

The 48-year-old Holen was arrested Wednesday. County Attorney Ryan Rusche said Holen is charged with eight counts of felony theft.

The investigation was conducted by the Montana Department of Livestock, Fort Peck Tribal Fish and Game, Bureau of Indian Affairs Land Department, Fort Peck Tribal Law and Justice and Roosevelt County sheriff's office.

The county attorney's office said it is not yet known whether Holen has an attorney.

http://www.billingsgazette.net/articles/2008/10/10/news/state/68-cattlerustling.txt
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Curly said:
Wow, its hard to believe this is still going on but there's no doubt it is.
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Yep- this is one of those folks I never trusted....When I was Sheriff, our Drug Task Force took him and another guy down on what has been one of the biggest drug busts in this part of the country...They (and several others that were tied in) both spent time in the Federal Pen...

After getting released he got his Tribal member wife to lease many large Tribal controlled reservation leases at reduced prices using her "Indian Preference"...He ran a few cows on some but mostly he turned around and subleased these pastures (something the tribe is trying to stop) to the highest "backroom deal " bidder- but now it appears he wasn't satisfyed with just his ill gained leasing profits- but tried to take some extra in stealing theirs and the neighbors cows.... :roll: :wink:
 
Thank God for Brand Inspection, you can sure say that again. A few years back, one of my good neighbors :roll: rounded up 14 yearling steers of mine and shipped them along with his to a local sale barn. If it hadn't been for the Brand Inspector I would have been a sad sack. My good neighbor's excuse for shipping them.....he had his hired men load out the truck and nobody noticed 14 yearling steers mixed in with his spring calves. Yeah right!
 
SaskHerf said:
makes a pretty good case for Mandatory ID System doesn't it..... who needs that when everyody is honest though right... :roll: :roll:
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Yep- but it has to be something better than an eartag- because he had cut all those out :shock: :wink: ...But he got caught because of his failed ability to alter some brands....
 
Oldtimer said:
..... (something the tribe is trying to stop) to the highest "backroom deal " bidder- but now it appears he wasn't satisfyed with just his ill gained leasing profits- but tried to take some extra in stealing theirs ....
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I'm curious, what happens to the "backroom bidders".... if it is something they are trying to stop? Are only tribal member owned cattle allowed to be there? Or is it open lease along as the fees are paid?
 
S.S.A.P. said:
Oldtimer said:
..... (something the tribe is trying to stop) to the highest "backroom deal " bidder- but now it appears he wasn't satisfyed with just his ill gained leasing profits- but tried to take some extra in stealing theirs ....
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I'm curious, what happens to the "backroom bidders".... if it is something they are trying to stop? Are only tribal member owned cattle allowed to be there? Or is it open lease along as the fees are paid?
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Nothing happened to the "backroom bidders' except they got their leases jerked- and in the case of one fellow, right smack in the middle of grazing season- after which the pasture sat empty for 1 1/2 years while they had a dispute over it...

Not exactly sure what rules they have instituted now this year...This fellow had several leases that they found he was subleasing last year (and had been for years)- so this year when some of his leases came up , they opened them up for bidding- and apparently no one with tribal preference bid - or they didn't allow tribal preference (not him anyway)...And it came down to a regular open auction with the top bidder ( a large 10,000 head ranch- that he stole some of the cows from :roll: ) getting the bid at $25 AUM....

In years past it was kind of a known these were being subleased- but the tribe didn't do much...They were using games like signed bills of sale on certain amounts of cattle to claim they were the original leasees cattle and all kinds of things...I think the tribe required a percentage of the cows (25%, 50%, ?) to be owned by the person having the lease...
But the new administration in the Tribal government (which historically has been ripe with corruption) this year realized they were losing a lot of income- so opened it up for bidding...Thats the way it used to be- anyone could bid- and high bidder got it- and they leased for 3 years and 7 year periods...They were good leases then- but when the corruption and tribal politics got so mixed up in it, I wouldn't even look at them anymore- and I refused to go the "under the table" way....

But I've seen the same done with BLM and State leases- and folks using grey areas and loopholes to sublease them too- which is not supposed to happen- where they use the "running the cattle for them" method to actually sublease federal and state owned pastures- and thereby make a profit off public lands....
 
I just talked to one of the victims- and the number of recovered cattle is up to 51 now.....
 
kolanuraven said:
Oldtimer said:
I just talked to one of the victims- and the number of recovered cattle is up to 51 now.....
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WOW!!


Somebody's been busy!!!!!!
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Yep- and speculation all over the place on the number that will never be found- as this fellow provided the beef for every tribal ceremony that took place for sometime..Even provided the beef for one counties Sheriff's campaign bar-b-que...... :wink: :lol: :lol:

The outfits he stole most the cattle from where huge ones... One that runs 10,000 and the other 1000-1500, that have no real idea what they have, so they didn't easily notice anything missing...But a lot of the smaller guys do know they are missing some- that haven't been found.....
 
Know all about it and what a pain in the arse it can be.


Way back when, in our NE days, we had cattle that seemed to ' disappear' also.
 
An Update: I talked with the District Brand Inspector on Thursday- and Holen was convicted on 8 counts of Theft in a 3 day trial that took place this week-- and immediately remanded to Jail to await sentencing....
Good Guys win another one.... :D
 
Shortgrass said:
Curly said:
Wow, its hard to believe this is still going on but there's no doubt it is.
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Rustling is alive and well, always has been. It just doesn't bother our urban neighbors, so you hear little of it.
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And when it's just a few here and there, a lot more slip through than are ever caught.
 
SaskHerf said:
makes a pretty good case for Mandatory ID System doesn't it..... who needs that when everyody is honest though right... :roll: :roll:
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Makes a good case for strong brand laws. They worked in this case. They work well in all states that have them. We don't need the mandatory ID.
 
OldDog/NewTricks said:
Shortgrass said:
We don't need the mandatory ID.
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Yea _ I agree, I have Breaks On my Truck!
I don't need NO Dam Emergency Break :mad:
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If you have breaks on your truck you may want to get them fixed.
If you do decide to take an emergency break, you will want your truck to have brakes :wink:
 

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