Cattle rustler from Arkansas gets jail time, must pay $60,000

Shane Joseph Horn
Shane Joseph Horn

Police in Boone County used a GPS tracking device to catch a cattle rustler.

Shane Joseph Horn, 31, of Valley Springs was stealing cattle, hauling the livestock to sale barns and spending the proceeds on drugs and casino gambling, said Chris Carter, deputy prosecuting attorney for Arkansas' 14th Judicial Circuit.

Horn pleaded guilty to one count of theft of property and was sentenced to four months in jail and 16 years of probation, according to a sentencing order filed Thursday in Boone County Circuit Court.

The thefts, involving 40 head of cattle, occurred over a three-month period in 2015, Carter said.

In August 2015, investigators with the Boone County sheriff's office put a GPS device on Horn's cattle trailer, Carter said. The tracker indicated that Horn drove the trailer twice to a farm near Alpena that was owned by James Block. On those nights, cattle disappeared from the farm, Carter said.

Horn was arrested Sept. 14, 2015, at the Farmers Livestock Auction in Springdale with stolen cattle in his possession, according to a news release at the time from the sheriff's office. He was charged with theft of property.

An affidavit from Brent Jones of the sheriff's office stated that cattle were stolen from the Block farm on multiple occasions by Horn and accomplices. The cattle were sold at sale barns in Springdale, Siloam Springs, Green Forest and Joplin, Mo., according to the court filing.

"Most of the cattle was sold in Springdale and Joplin," Carter said. "Then they'd go right across the border to casinos."

Casinos are legal in Oklahoma and Missouri. The closest one to Joplin is 11 miles southwest in Oklahoma.

"They actually had some big wins at the casino," said Carter, noting that Horn was required to fill out federal tax forms at the casino to get his winnings. Carter said Horn later lost the money gambling or spent it buying methamphetamine.

Aaron Wesley Sayres, 31, of Harrison, also was arrested and charged in the cattle case, but charges against him were dropped in December.

Carter said the case remains under investigation.

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Carter said that on the basis of Horn's testimony in court last week, there may be additional suspects in the cattle-rustling case.

"He admitted personally going to the Block residence twice," Carter said of Horn. "He is convinced that one or more of his co-defendants went another time."

On Thursday, Horn was ordered to pay $60,000 in restitution for 40 head of cattle stolen from Block, who once employed Horn.

"This is a 400-acre farm with no house on it," Carter said. "Since he had worked there before, it was pretty easy for the cattle to come to him," Carter said.

Carter said the cattle had no brands or ear tags.

He said if other people are subsequently convicted in the case, they could be required to pay part of the $60,000 in restitution that Horn is now required to pay.

Horn is in the Boone County jail serving his sentence. Horn recently completed six months of a one-year drug treatment program in Heber Springs and will return to finish that program after his jail sentence, Carter said.

Two months after returning to the drug-treatment program, Horn will be expected to work and begin making restitution payments of $300 a month, Carter said. According to the sentencing order, those payments will go up to $500 a month as soon as Horn is capable of paying that amount.

Carter said investigators are looking at other cattle-rustling cases.

"In the last two years, we have seen a huge increase in cattle thefts in our area," he said. "It's pretty easy money. If you can pull up to a farm, snatch six young steers, take them to an auction barn and get $900, that's $5,400."

Metro on 01/18/2017

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