Oklahoma Woman Sentenced with Restitution After Concealing Stolen Property
An Oklahoma woman was ordered on Nov. 10th to pay $59,000 in restitution to the Langford Hereford Ranch and sentenced in October to two years in the Oklahoma Department of Corrections after being found guilty of knowingly concealing stolen property (cattle).
This investigation was led by Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association (TSCRA) Special Ranger Bart Perrier. TSCRA Special Rangers John Cummings and Ben Eggleston and Bryan County Assistant District Attorneys Matt Stubblefield and Whitney Kerr assisted Perrier with the investigation.
According to Perrier, the defendant, Christen Leeann Allen, 31, of Haskell, Okla. had sold ten head of registered cattle at the Durant Stockyards on Oct. 10, 2013. The cattle Allen sold matched the description of some registered purebred cattle that were reported stolen in October 2013 by the Langford Hereford Ranch, located in Okmulgee, Okla.
During the investigation some of the cattle sold by Allen were located and positively identified through brands and registered tattoo numbers as the stolen cattle reported in this case.
“This case is a great example of how critical it is for ranchers to properly brand, mark or tattoo their cattle for identification purposes,” said Perrier. “These important steps make it much easier for us to identify lost or stolen cattle and return them to the rightful owners.”
Allen was convicted based on her inconsistent statements about the origin and ownership of the cattle when they were sold at the sale barn and her activities leading up to and after the sale of the cattle.
TSCRA would like to thank Bryan County District Attorneys Stubblefield and Kerr for their assistance during this joint investigation.
Source: Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association
