In a release Tuesday, RCMP at Bashaw — about 80 km northeast of Red Deer, in Camrose County — said they and members of the RCMP’s Central Alberta Crime Reduction Unit (CAD CRU) responded on the morning of Sept. 28 to a report of a “significant amount of canola” stolen from a farm in the county.

RELATED: Tips to prevent grain theft on your farm

RCMP said they then received a report at about 1:30 that afternoon of “suspicious individuals” attempting to sell canola to a Hutterite colony in the area. That report led the Mounties to locate both a grain truck and a second vehicle suspected in the theft.

The CRU, with Bashaw and Stettler RCMP, “attempted to do a traffic stop” on the grain truck, but its driver failed to stop, police said.

A spike belt was then used to stop the grain truck and its driver was arrested with help from RCMP helicopter and police dog services, police said.

A “significant amount” of canola and a grain auger were recovered in the investigation, RCMP said in their release.

RCMP couldn’t quantify Wednesday exactly how much canola was reported to have been taken at the affected farm or how much of it police recovered, but an RCMP spokesperson said the canola reported missing from the farm had an estimated value of between $7,000 and $8,000.

The driver of the second vehicle was arrested in Mirror, about 20 km southwest of Bashaw, and a loaded 12-gauge shotgun was found in a search of that vehicle, RCMP said.

Jesse MacDonald, 33, and Tristan Ruby, 36, both of Stettler, now face 14 and 16 charges respectively. Both were remanded into custody and have since appeared Tuesday in Provincial Court in Red Deer, RCMP said.

A court representative said both individuals’ cases have been adjourned to Oct. 13 in Provincial Court in Stettler.

Charges against both include trafficking in property obtained by crime and possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose, RCMP added, noting Ruby also faces nine counts of being unlawfully at large. All charges laid have yet to be proven in court. — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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“Every year, we have more calves stolen,” RCMP livestock investigator Cpl. Lindsey Anderson said earlier this month. “We were able to charge someone a couple weeks back and get a search warrant to recover some stolen calves.

“A lot of times, especially in those instances, there are thefts that we think have occurred, but we don’t have the evidence to pursue anything.”

That’s not for lack of trying, said Anderson, one of two RCMP investigators who works with Livestock Identification Services, a not-for-profit company that oversees brand registration, livestock inspection, and livestock dealer licensing.

“The Livestock Identification Services database is amazing because any time that branded cattle are reported stolen or missing, we enter them into the database,” she said. “And then if they cross an inspection site down the road, we’re notified.”

But oftentimes, rustlers aren’t the stereotype of hardened criminals operating in the dead of night.

“It’s very typical where you have two neighbours that share a fence line and one person’s cattle will stray onto the other person’s property,” she said. “Instead of reporting it, it’s common for the neighbour to take ownership of the animals. Especially if things aren’t branded, it’s easy to just throw your own brand on those cows and claim ownership.”

And branding is key, she said.

“If you report 10 to 20 animals missing and they’re not branded, it’s very hard for us to do our job,” said Anderson. “We can’t identify them.”

But if they are branded, it can be a different story.

“That’s where we use the livestock inspectors,” said Anderson. “Those guys work really hard and they clip them and we rely on them to be our experts in court for identification.”

By law, when cattle leave Alberta, Saskatchewan or B.C., they need to have a brand inspection.

“If you are going to be sending cattle on pasture to Saskatchewan to be on grass for the summer, you have to get an inspection and you’re issued a grazing permit,” she said. “So we’ll do investigations into people who have failed to do inspections and get their permit in order for the cattle to leave the province.”

Still, catching cattle thieves can be very hard.

In 2018, Anderson participated in the premiere episode of a CBC documentary series called ‘Farm Crimes,’ which detailed the theft of 50 cattle from Walt Suntjens. The well-known rancher from Hanna had returned from a vacation to find the cattle missing and he immediately suspected an employee. Although proving the theft was challenging, the show demonstrated that this type of crime can be solved — and that there are steps that can help prevent cattle thefts, said Anderson.

“Do background checks on any employee that you’re going to be hiring,” she said. “Be careful who you’re going to trust. I know everybody wants to trust their neighbours, but you just never know.

“Definitely keep good records. A lot of times, people will report animals missing, but they don’t know what their actual count should be.”

In the CBC documentary, Suntjens’ cattle are purchased by a third party who has no idea that they’re stolen.

“If you’re buying anything off Kijiji, you don’t know if it could be stolen,” said Anderson. “If it (the price) is too good to be true, I will always tell people that it probably is too good to be true.”

If suspicious, a buyer can always contact a livestock inspector.

Oftentimes, the payment process raises red flags.

“People get scammed all the time. Never front any money. Don’t deposit money or do an e-transfer into someone’s bank account to hold property if you don’t know who that person is.”

There are also some basic precautions to take when buying from or selling to someone you don’t know.

“When you meet the person, always make it a public place or somewhere where you know that you’re going to be safe,” said Anderson. “Get government-issued ID and a proper bill of sale for anything that you are buying. Always be careful about accepting personal cheques from someone you don’t know because those can bounce.”

Along with keeping records, checking fences regularly, and branding, don’t hesitate to give Livestock Identification Services a call.

“If you think someone has been out spinning some doughnuts in your pasture, you’re missing some calves and you’re not sure if coyotes got them or if they’ve been stolen — just report it,” she said. “It never hurts to report it. Keep good numbers. Know what’s missing and that way we have something to go from.”

If a theft has just happened, it’s best to contact the local RCMP detachment. For more on Livestock Identification Services and its work, go to www.lis-ab.com. The two seasons of Farm Crime are now available on Gem, CBC’s free streaming service. The episode Cattle Cops is the first show in Season 1 and a link can be found at www.cbc.ca/farmcrime.

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A “keen-eyed citizen” was immediately suspicious after seeing grain being loaded from bins on a neighbour’s farm near Josephburg, northeast of Edmonton, in early December. The neighbour knew the farmer was away and so called the Strathcona County RCMP.

“It was something that was quite surprising,” said Const. Allison Gyonyor. “We had a neighbour contact us in regards to some grain that was being removed from a property.”

An investigation by the RCMP property crimes unit found that a grain company had been contacted via “online and text communication” by a man purporting to be the seller.

“He didn’t have authorization to use that property, nor to sell it, but he made a contract and went to sell it to someone,” said Gyonyor. “On the other side of things, they thought it was legitimate. They purchased it and started to pick it up, and that’s when the neighbour realized what was going on.”

Earlier this month, Bryce Allan Smith, 32 and a resident of Fort Saskatchewan, was charged with one count of trafficking stolen property over $5,000.

“This is an unusual crime. It’s not common that we charge someone in trafficking,” said Gyonyor.

This type of crime has happened before, but it is unusual, said Rémi Gosselin, manager of corporate information services at the Canadian Grain Commission.

But the changing nature of farming means it is more common for someone other than the farmer — either a contract trucker or a grain company — to be picking up grain.

“More and more producers are having truckers go to a grain elevator on their own behalf,” said Gosselin. “It is more infrequent for producers to deliver their own grain. It is quite plausible that an elevator would have no idea about the origins of grain.”

But not anyone would attempt a crime like this, he added.

“You would have to have knowledge of how the grain business functions,” he said. “If someone is stealing grain, they would need to know how farms operate.”

The incident is a reminder for farmers to be aware of what is happening in their “neighbourhood” and the benefits of being in touch with neighbours, said Gyonyor.

“We just recommend to people that they talk to their neighbours, get to know their neighbours,” she said. “Let your neighbours know you are going away on holidays. Keep an eye out for each other.”

And if you do see something unusual, don’t hesitate to call police, she said.

There are also security measures that producers can take, said Gosselin, such as installing security cameras in their yards and turning off the electrical unloading systems to their bins. As well, he said, companies such as Cropgard Security Inc., sell paper flakes with a unique number printed on each tiny piece of paper. Handfuls of the paper flakes are thrown in the auger when grain is being loaded in the bin with the number being an identifier should the grain be stolen.

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The bill approved by the Oklahoma Senate on Tuesday and already approved in the House increases fines for cattle theft and the number of felony counts that can be brought.

State law currently says the penalty for livestock theft is jail or a fine, but the legislation would allow for both penalties in a single case. It also allows prosecutors to assign a felony charge for each animal stolen.

“If a thief steals eight head of cattle, in the past he was charged with one felony count,” said Oklahoma Cattlemen’s Association executive vice-president Michael Kelsey.

The crime has evolved from rustlers on horseback driving their plunder across the range, often portrayed in the early 1960s U.S. TV program Rawhide, to modern-day cowboys using pickup trucks and trailers to make off with cattle.

The recent rise in rustling is driven by the spread of heroin and methamphetamines to rural areas, an issue that has dogged states across the nation. In Oklahoma and neighbouring Texas, lonesome cattle grazing on thousand-acre ranches that can fetch about $1,000 to $3,000 at market are proving to be easy targets for rustlers on the down and out (all figures US$).

Jail time for the theft of livestock remains at three to 10 years. Those convicted of livestock theft would be fined in an amount that is three times the value of animals and machinery stolen, capping out at $500,000.

The bill now heads to Governor Mary Fallin, a Republican.

“Now, district attorneys have the option to seek eight felony counts. If the district attorney is faced with a hardened criminal, he can really throw the book at him,” Kelsey said.

Among Oklahoma cattle thieves, about 75 per cent are doing so to feed drug addictions, most often to methamphetamines, according to Jerry Flowers, chief agent for the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture’s Investigative Services, a specialized units farm crimes.

Cattle theft data from the department showed that reported cattle thefts more than doubled in 2014 from the previous year, due in large part to rampant methamphetamine use and addiction in rural areas.

— Reporting for Reuters by Heide Brandes; writing by Jon Herskovitz.

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The Taber Police Service said Friday it had completed a “lengthy investigation” into allegations of fraud in which hay was obtained “under false pretenses” from a local company that wasn’t reimbursed for the product.

The Taber-area business is alleged to have been defrauded of over $800,000 between March and July 2013, the police service said in a release on its Facebook page.

The police service said it has arrested and charged Scott Piggott, 33, with fraud over $5,000, theft over $5,000 and false pretenses over $5,000.

Piggott is now out on bail and due to appear in Provincial Court in Taber on June 23, the police service said.

“The culmination of an arrest and charges in this matter is a great example of working through a large amount of information, liaising with special prosecutions, and helping our local business community,” Inspector Graham Abela said in the police service release.

The investigation involved “reviewing a massive amount of data and obtaining information from several companies in Canada and the U.S.,” the police service said. — AGCanada.com Network

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And when he retires April 2, his 45 years and 192 days of service will make him one of the longest-serving members in RCMP history.

But the longtime Ponoka resident is best known in Alberta’s farm community for his work as a livestock investigator during the past 11 years.

He fell into his unique role because of his interest and background in cattle and horses. While working as a general-duty RCMP officer in Ponoka, he began heading up cattle-related investigations and managed to catch several cattle thieves. When his predecessor retired in 2004, Heaslip applied for the job.

“I thought I’d just try it for a year or two and see how it was, but I really enjoyed it. Working with farmers and ranchers is great,” he said.

The province’s two livestock investigators are the go-to guys for other RCMP detachments when it comes to handling livestock complaints involving strays, frauds, thefts, and animal welfare concerns. They also handle and investigate major livestock-related crimes.

Heaslip’s territory ranges from Red Deer to the Northwest Territories and the Saskatchewan border, and he and his southern Alberta counterpart work closely with Livestock Inspection Services.

“It’s hit and miss sometimes, looking for people’s cattle, but there’s nothing better than finding a guy who has stolen some cattle and putting him behind bars,” he said. “It’s been a real pleasure serving the farmers and ranchers of Alberta.”

Horses and cattle have always been near and dear to his heart.

During a five-year stint in St. Paul, he raised Simmental cattle and quarter-horses, and served as a 4-H leader. He’s been active in the RCMP’s musical ride and represented the force during Canadian Night at the National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas. It was his horse that appeared riderless in the ceremonial funeral of St. Albert Const. David Wynn in January, an RCMP tradition to honour a fallen comrade.

“I will miss the esprit de corps of the RCMP family and working with the livestock inspector guys,” he said.

Heaslip said he is looking forward to working his horses on his Ponoka-area acreage, spending time at home and in the mountains and travelling to Arizona.

When asked for his parting advice to ranchers, he didn’t hesitate: Brand your animals.

“Using the CCIA tags is one thing, but putting a brand on your animals is another — it just can’t be rubbed off,” he said. “It’s a good piece of insurance for preventive measures and to give a police officer, when they locate them, to be able to prove it in court. It’s very important.”

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