Modern Day Cattle Rustler Charged

Modern Day Cattle Rustler Charged

Maura Bennett
Maura Bennett
A California man faces charges of cattle theft, investment fraud and embezzlement after allegedly stealing about 8 million dollars worth of cattle from ranchers in Colorado and several other states.

Tulare County California Sheriff Mike Boudreaux says 36 year old Justin Greer was arrested in Texas and returned to Tulare County where he is jailed on a 1.9 million dollar bail.

Greer once a respected cattleman was wanted in several states including Wyoming, California and Texas.

The Sheriff gave credit to detectives who have been investigating accusations from victims since June. They tracked Greer to Martin County Texas where Sheriff Brad Ingram told CBS.7 it was an unusually complicated case.

Last April victims told investigator that Greer failed to meet his financial obligations, which caused them to look closer at their business dealings with him. Two of the victims issued audits into the numbers of cattle they owned that had been managed by Greer.

Those audits showed hundreds of cattle had been stolen.

Other victims in this case had invested as partners with Greer. They later learned that the cattle they had invested in either weren't Greer's to sell in the first place or the cattle never existed at all.

Greer is charged with 13 counts of grand theft with special allegations, three separate counts of investment fraud and faces a maximum of 26 years in prison.

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