Perrin Man at Center of Massive Cattle Scam Sentenced in Federal Court

FORT WORTH — Tony Eugene Lyon, 52, of Perrin, Texas was sentenced on March 24 in connection with a federal charge of wire fraud. He was arrested in July 2015 and pled guilty in Nov. 2016 to scamming a Nebraska-based cattle marketing agency.
Lyon was sentenced by U.S. District Judge John H. McBryde in a federal court in Fort Worth. He was ordered to serve 10 years in federal prison, with three of those years as supervised release. He was also ordered to pay more than $5.1 million dollars in restitution to the entity he defrauded.
In a recent civil suit, a Texas jury also ordered Lyon to pay $23.1 million in restitution, making it one of the largest cattle fraud cases in Texas history. Other criminal charges are still pending in Texas
The investigation that resulted in the arrest, conviction and sentencing of Lyon was led by Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association (TSCRA) Special Ranger John Bradshaw along with TSCRA Special Ranger Wayne Goodman and FBI Special Agent Frank Super.
For more information on arrest and conviction of Lyon, view our previous news release here.
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TSCRA has 30 special rangers stationed strategically throughout Texas and Oklahoma who have in-depth knowledge of the cattle industry and are trained in all facets of law enforcement. All are commissioned as Special Rangers by the Texas Department of Public Safety and/or the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation.
TSCRA is a 140-year-old trade association and is the largest and oldest livestock organization based in Texas. TSCRA has more than 17,500 beef cattle operations, ranching families and businesses as members. These members represent approximately 55,000 individuals directly involved in ranching and beef production who manage 4 million head of cattle on 76 million acres of range and pasture land primarily in Texas and Oklahoma, but throughout the Southwest.
For more TSCRA news releases, visit tscra.org.