FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 
December 15, 2016
Contact: Laramie Adams
Cell: 512-922-7328

Perrin, Texas – Tony Eugene Lyon, 52, Perrin, Texas pleaded guilty November 4 to a federal charge of wire fraud after being arrested in July 2015 for scamming a Nebraska based cattle marketing agency.

Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association (TSCRA) Special Ranger John Bradshaw led the investigation along with TSCRA Special Ranger Wayne Goodman and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Special Agent Frank Super.

Bradshaw said the Nebraska based cattle marketing agency had received an order from the victim to buy some steers in 2015. The agency contacted Lyon to supply the steers. After the victim wrote a $798,000 check to the marketing agency, Lyon received a check from the agency for $791,000.

The victim then went to Lyon’s property in Perrin, Texas to look at the steers, and it was decided that the cattle would be turned out on a wheat pasture and Lyon would take care of them until they could be shipped to the victim. When the victim returned later in 2015 to check on the steers, Lyon told him he didn’t have the steers anymore because he had to sell them to take care of some prior obligations.

Lyon pleaded guilty to wire fraud on November 4 and will owe $5.1 million in restitution to the livestock marketing agency and the victim. He will be sentenced in the upcoming months.

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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 139-year-old trade association and is the largest and oldest livestock organization based in Texas. TSCRA has more than 17,000 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.