A Louisiana man is in custody and facing a possible ten years in prison for cattle rustling in Forest.
On Monday morning prior to opening for business, employees at Tadlock Stockyard found that 29 head of cattle were missing. Around 9:00 a.m. employees went to move some cattle but realized the cattle they were supposed to move were no longer in the pen. The stockyard is armed with surveillance cameras located at numerous vantage points and managers immediately reviewed the video to find answers to the missing herd. It did not take long to find the video that showed the 24 heifers and five steers being stolen on Sunday night.
“As soon as we found out we had cattle missing we came straight to the office to watch the video surveillance, and it did not take long at all to find the theft on the video,” Manager Char’lesa Tadlock said. “We immediately contacted the Forest Police Department and the Mississippi Department of Agriculture – Livestock Theft Bureau.”
After contacting law enforcement authorities, management team members at the family owned stockyard, uploaded the video of the alleged cattle thieves to the companys Facebook page and started letting all employees watch the video.
“Thankfully people on our page started sharing the post with video footage as soon as we uploaded it. We also had all of our employees come in and watch the video to find out is anyone recognized either of the two people or the truck and trailer they were driving when they stole the cattle,” Tadlock said.
The FPD and MS Livestock Theft Bureau came to the stockyard and worked together in identify the make, model and identifying characteristics of the truck used to load and haul thecattle. “With the help of FPD and the Livestock Theft Bureau we were able to identify the truck these people were driving. It was a late model silver Dodge dually 3500 double cab pulling a 36-foot gooseneck stock trailer,” Tadlock said. “We spread the word on this vehicle as quickly as possible.”
After reviewing the video multiple times two employees recognized the truck. “Two of our employees remembered that the truck had been here two weeks ago to pick-up cattle,” Tadlock said. “After they were able to identify who they might be we were able to make some calls and find out who we thought stole the cattle and we passed that information straight to the authorities.”
“This case took everyone involved working together,” Forest Police Chief Will Jones said. “The FPD, the Mississippi Livestock Theft Bureau and everyone at Tadlock’s really worked together to identify and locate these suspects as quickly as possible. We were able to locate the perpetrators and the missing cattle within 24 hours of the cattle going missing, and all the cattle have been returned to Tadlock’s pens in good condition. The suspect has already been taken in to custody and is currently at the Scott County Jail awaiting his first appearance before a judge.”
Michael T. Lindsey, 53, of Bernice, LA has been charged with one count of Larceny-Livestock Theft. He faces up to 10 years in prison and $10,000 in fines if found guilty of the current charges.
Jones said that there was a second party to this alleged theft but is are not releasing that name at this time. Lindsey is currently the only suspect in custody concerning this matter, but there could be additional arrest and/or additional charges.
Tadlock said that the average weight of each of the cows was 450 lbs and that the total estimated value of the 29 heard of cattle was between $18,000 and $20,000. “I cannot say enough about the job done by Chief Jones and FPD and the MS Agriculture and Livestock Theft Bureau,” Tadlock said. “The cattle were stolen at about 10:45 p.m. Sunday night, by Tuesday morning at 1:30 a.m. all the cattle were back here in their pen and the alleged thief was in custody. It was all the help of everyone involved that led to the cattle being returned here safely and unharmed.”
