Updated 11:04 AM on Tuesday, August 15, 2006
Two Franklin men linked to cattle thefts
By ARENA WELCH
Land & Livestock Post
Two Franklin men charged recently with stealing a few head of cattle have been linked to selling livestock snatched from seven area ranches and selling them through auction barns, authorities confirmed Aug. 1.
A paper trail followed by investigators linked Terry Carl Meadors and Bryan Allen Renfrow to 42 stolen animals, which include two bulls, six calves and 34 heifers and cows, Robertson County Sheriff Gerald Yezak said.
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Eagle Photo/Dave McDermand
Robertson County ranchers William Brunette (left) and Todd Neyland look to see if any of their missing cattle are among a group seized and penned at the Calvert Livestock Commission on July 27. None of the cattle were recognized by the ranchers.
The animals were sold through the Brazos Valley Livestock Commission, Buffalo Livestock Commission Co. and Groesbeck Auction & Livestock Commission, he said. All the thefts occurred since May, the sheriff said.
Meadors, 48, and Renfrow, 20, were charged with stealing three cows and a bull and then selling them through the Brazos Valley Livestock Commission.
Authorities were tipped off by an attentive owner who traced the sale himself and alerted police.
Yezak said that investigators are expected to meet soon with the Robertson County District Attorney before filing the additional charges against the pair.
Renfrow was released July 27 from the Brazos County Jail on $5,000 bail. Meadors remains jailed without bond because his arrest was considered a violation of his parole.
According to records obtained by The Eagle, Meadors has been convicted of forgery, burglary of a habitation, aggravated possession of a controlled substance and misdemeanor drug possession.
Most of those offenses occurred in Fort Worth and Tarrant County.
Meadors was paroled in 1985, but the condition was revoked two years later, according to public records.
He was paroled again in 1989, and the mandatory supervision was set to expire next year.
Investigators executed warrants to search Meadors' home on New Baden Road outside of Franklin, two of his vehicles and property he owns in Robertson County, Yezak said.
Investigators seized 10 "long arm" weapons, five handguns, a 1/2 pound of marijuana and 10 grams of methamphetamines. Yezak said three vehicles were used in the cattle thefts - a 1986 one-ton flatbed truck, a 2005 Z-71 pickup and a 1970 24-ft. livestock trailer.
A 24-foot cargo trailer that was stolen out of Fort Worth and a 20-foot utility trailer that was reported stolen from Leon County were recovered during the searches, Yezak said.
Special rangers with the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association are trying to track down each of the cattle that were stolen and then sold, Yezak said. But they won't wait to find the cattle before filing charges, he said, adding that stealing more than three dozen livestock is a "substantial" crime, especially for a community the size of Robertson County.
