FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Nov. 14, 2014
Contact: Laramie Adams
Cell: 512-922-7328

Durant, Okla. – An Oklahoma woman was ordered Monday to pay $59,000 in restitution to the Langford Hereford Ranch and sentenced in October to two years in the Oklahoma Department of Corrections after being found guilty of knowingly concealing stolen property (cattle).  

This investigation was led by Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association (TSCRA) Special Ranger Bart Perrier. TSCRA Special Rangers John Cummings and Ben Eggleston and Bryan County Assistant District Attorneys Matt Stubblefield and Whitney Kerr assisted Perrier with the investigation.  

According to Perrier, the defendant, Christen Leeann Allen, 31, of Haskell, Okla. had sold ten head of registered cattle at the Durant Stockyards on Oct. 10, 2013. The cattle Allen sold matched the description of some registered purebred cattle that were reported stolen in October 2013 by the Langford Hereford Ranch, located in Okmulgee, Okla.  

During the investigation some of the cattle sold by Allen were located and positively identified through brands and registered tattoo numbers as the stolen cattle reported in this case.  

“This case is a great example of how critical it is for ranchers to properly brand, mark or tattoo their cattle for identification purposes,” said Perrier. “These important steps make it much easier for us to identify lost or stolen cattle and return them to the rightful owners.” 

Allen was convicted based on her inconsistent statements about the origin and ownership of the cattle when they were sold at the sale barn and her activities leading up to and after the sale of the cattle. 

TSCRA would like to thank Bryan County District Attorneys Stubblefield and Kerr for their assistance during this joint investigation.  

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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 137-year-old trade association and is the largest and oldest livestock organization based in Texas. TSCRA has more than 16,000 beef cattle operations, ranching families and businesses as members. These members represent approximately 50,000 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.