Mont. man found guilty of stealing cattle

WOLF POINT, Mont. (AP) — A rare case of cattle rustling ended in the conviction of a Wolf Point man on eight counts of felony theft, one for each neighboring rancher whose cattle he stole.

Richard D. Holen was convicted of stealing 39 head of cattle. The conviction last week in Roosevelt County District Court came after a three-day trial. Holen is in custody awaiting sentencing.

Roosevelt County Attorney Ryan Rusche, who prosecuted the case, said Tuesday that it’s been a long time since Montana has seen cattle rustling on this scale.

“I couldn’t find any (comparable cases) later than the early 1900s,” Rusche told The Associated Press. “There’ve been others, but they’ve all been single animals.”

His comments were echoed by John Grainger, who heads the brand enforcement division of the Montana Department of Livestock.

“This is one of the biggest cases that we’ve had in the state of Montana,” Grainger told the Great Falls Tribune. “There have been cases where you’ll have a a cow and a calf missing, but not to this degree.”

The investigation began last September, Rusche said.

“A (Fort Peck) tribal game warden was down in his area and saw him moving cattle into the brush along the Missouri River bottom,” Rusche said. “Later, the defendant called him and they had an argument about why the game warden was down there watching him.”

Investigators eventually found 33 cows, calves, bulls and heifers that didn’t belong to Holen among his herd, and another six stolen cows and calves that he sold to someone else.

“Some of the cattle that were stolen had been rebranded or had their brands altered,” Rusche said. He credited the expert testimony of state livestock inspector Wayne Shipp, who photographed the altered brands and explained to jurors how a branding iron seized from Holen’s property was used to alter them.

There will be a presentence investigation before Holen is sentenced.

He faces a maximum of 10 years and a $50,000 fine for each of the eight counts.

Tags: news, crime, cattle, montana