FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Special Rangers recover $19,000 worth of saddles

FORT WORTH, Texas, Sept. 19, 2007—Two dozen saddles, valued at approximately $19,000, have been recovered by the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association.
      On May 23, TSCRA Special Ranger John Bradshaw, was contacted regarding the theft of 10 saddles out of Washington County, Okla. Although Bradshaw, based in Paris, covers TSCRA’s District 12 in the far northeast portion of Texas, he was contacted because the suspects were believed to be from the Mount Pleasant area.
      Once the investigation began, it became clear that more than the original 10 saddles were involved. At last count, 31 saddles — 24 of which have been recovered by TSCRA Special Rangers so far — had been stolen and sold at horse sales and from the side of the road to people all over Texas, Oklahoma and even as far-off as Florida.
      “These saddles were all over the place,” Bradshaw says. “Like the one in Florida. I mean, good grief! The guy [who purchased those saddles] was on vacation and driving on the Indian Nation Turnpike and these kids with the saddles were set up at the gas station.
      “The guy was visiting his son who lives in Oklahoma and was pulling a horse trailer. The kids thought, ‘He’s pulling a horse trailer, let’s see if he’s interested in buying some saddles.’
      “So, they yelled at him to see if he wanted to look at some saddles. And he said, ‘Yeah, I’ll look at them.’ So he comes over and looks at them. And they say, “You can have any two out of the bunch for $250.” So the guy picks the best two saddles and pays part check, part cash. And that’s [the record from the check] how we tracked him down,” he says.
      Since the stolen property was so spread out — across state lines, even — it took cooperation from other TSCRA Special Rangers to recover such a large number of the saddles.
      Bradshaw is quick to credit new ranger John Cummings, who joined TSCRA after this case was in progress, but was a great asset because he serves the Oklahoma district where much of the theft occurred.
      Cummings not only recovered two of the saddles, but also communicated back and forth with Bradshaw to keep him informed of what was going on related to the case in Oklahoma.
      TSCRA Special Rangers Jimmy Belt, who serves District 23 in Southeast Texas, and Doug Hutchison, of South Central Texas’ District 20, also recovered saddles.
      The suspects, 18-year-old John Allen Davis, and 17-year-old Elijah Sims, have been arrested and have confessed to the crimes.
      TSCRA currently has 28 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.  

            Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association is a 130-year-old trade organization whose 14,900 members manage approximately 5.4 million cattle on 70.3 million acres of range and pasture land, primarily in Texas and Oklahoma.

TSCRA–24–2007