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Chance Reynolds Defense

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Largest Natural Beef Rancher scandalized John Brently Chancellor Reynolds 19 Feb 2006 19:47 GMT Jessica Reynolds 1600 princeton SE, Abluquerque NM. 87106 The destruction that the government has layed upon one man and his family over the past ten years..The pain and wrong that has been done illigally and unjustly by the state of south dakota and the farms credit services. A story of one of the largest natural beef ranches in the United states and what has become of the people who created it. A side of the story never listened to. I will try to tell you in this writing what happened to myself and my family, but keep in mind that it will be impossible to tell you everything, not because there is anything I care to hold back, but simply because there is too much. Many things have taken place over the past five years, and although I believe at this time that I understand most of them, certain things still remain a mystery to me. In March of 1996, I was in Boston with my wife Neteri and our daughters. We had just signed a new contract with Oxford Trading Company to distribute Beaver Creek Ranch Natural Beef on the East Coast. We were also there because we had lost faith in our bank, Farm Credit Services, and were negotiating a new banking contract with the Bank of Boston. At that time we owned a little more than three thousand, five hundred mother cows who were beginning to calf, plus an additional two thousand, five hundred head of yearlings ranging in age from 10 months old to fat. In addition we had cattle contracts for slightly more than 12,000 head ranging from calves to yearlings and had three thousand head of cattle the same age contracted in the northern part of the state of Chihuahua in Mexico. Our personal cattle plus our contracted cattle left us in control of twenty-one thousand head with a calf crop hitting the ground. With the exception of brood cows, these cattle were earmarked to fill demands from the Boston contract. We had cattle on contract in Wyoming, South Dakota, Montana, Colorado, Oklahoma, Texas, and Mexico. Approximately a year and a half before this, in September 1994, I had met with my bankers at Farm Credit Services to determine how to finance what would be a rapid growth period in order to meet the increasing demand for natural beef. At that time I was the star of Farm Credit Services. We were one of the few truly profitable ranches and our future sales were based on firm contract prices well above the current market. At Farm Credit Services I dealt only with the vice president and president of the Rapid City Branch, Jeff Garrett and Monty Lucas respectively. Garrett would later become the Chief Financial Officer of Beaver Creek Ranch and would manage our Rapid City office as well as oversee and negotiate all loan packages. He additionally would have signature on all of our checking accounts. At the time I hired Garrett, in April of 1995, I was convinced that it was the best move I could make for the future of the ranch. Not only had Garrett watched the growth of the ranch over the years, but he also intimately knew our plans for the future. It was my belief that he could relieve me of the task of dealing with the bank and I could concentrate wholly on production. In September of 1994, when I met with Garrett and Lucas to discuss a financing package, it was their suggestion that for the present time, in order to secure sufficient financing, that we collateralize all cattle on contract. At the time I asked them directly if that was standard banking practice. Their response was yes. They said it was simply a matter of bookkeeping and could not be construed any differently than collateralizing accounts receivable. When I questioned them once again, they said that if I would be more comfortable, they could transfer the ranch account to commercial lending where it was everyday practice to make receivable loans, but it was also their opinion that my account could best be served by staying in their hands where it was fully understood. They were adamant about the point that their policy was to make loans by evaluating the borrower’s ability and willingness to repay. They felt that the ranch’s future was virtually unlimited and were thrilled to be a part of it. They knew exactly how many cattle I owned and how many I had on contract and what numbers we expected to contract and purchase in the coming years. Additionally they saw our operation as a cure for their bad accounts. On more than one occasion we contracted with marginal customers of Farm Credit Services. We provided them with specific procedures to assure the livestock were raised to our requirements and then offered a set contract price which allowed them to make realistic budgets. The concept of Beaver Creek Ranch was more than marketing natural beef. It was the idea that ranching, even for the small producers, could become profitable again by paying strict attention to quality control, eliminating hormones and antibiotics, and marketing directly on a fixed price contract basis. This was the first time in the history of the cattle market that truly large numbers of cattle would be bypassing the standard feedlot – packaging plant system. The marketing projections for 1997 alone were in excess of an expected demand of over 100,000 head of cattle. Needless to say, this made some standard operators in the cattle business very nervous. They clearly knew that if a superior product ever established a significant niche in the market, that their product would in turn be devalued. So it was that I believe there were significant forces in the structure of Farm Credit Services nationwide who were our allies and saw our operation as the only viable direction to future profitability, but there was also, I believe, an equally if not more powerful group within Farm Credit Services that saw our operation as a threat. Many, many of their financed feedlots and plants operated on a slim profit/loss line. An increasing disruption of cattle quantity at the feedlot level would have been devastating. By the end of our meeting in September of 1994, I had agreed to allow the collateralization of cattle on contract with the condition that commercial lending, over a period of the next year, familiarize themselves with our account. I made it clear that after that year I would expect our accounts to be shifted to commercial lending. During this same period of time, several things were happening. One of these things unbeknownst to me was that the Federal Government was considering a highway grant to the State of South Dakota in the massive amount of 2.2 billion dollars. Additionally I did not know that the State of South Dakota had one of only two state owned cement companies in the entire nation. There was another event that was known to me, but to which I paid little attention. A real estate agent in Custer began calling the ranch every three months or so. On each occasion he inquired about whether or not I was interested in selling the ranch. At that time the ranch was approximately 100,000 acres. The agent said he had a cash buyer who was extremely interested, although he refused to tell me who the buyer was. On a ranch the size of ours I assumed that the buyer was either corporate money or an individual like Ted Turner. Other than that I gave the matter very little thought. The first few times the man called me, I politely refused. The last time he called I told him not to call me back. I told him the ranch would never be for sale as long as I was alive, and that if his interest continued, he could talk to my daughters after my death. Additionally at this time I did things that made many of my neighbors unhappy. There is always a jealousy that exists if a ranch through different methods is more profitable than others, but aside from that, I took specific actions which were unpopular. I blocked a uranium mining proposal on my land as well as others when it because clear that there was a real chance of contaminating our surface water. I closed the ranch to hunting, I did not allow logging, I tore down fences instead of building new ones, and refused the use of steroids or growth implants; I used antibiotics only to save animals’ lives and then I marketed them separately. We moved ranching back 100 years by running an old fashioned horseback operation. We controlled cattle with mineral and water rather than with fences. We raised a natural product in a natural environment to coincide with current market demands and we profited. I think it was late in 1994 or possibly earlier that I first heard the drug rumor. Friends of ours in the town of Edgemont said that they had heard that the ranch was doing well because we dealt in drugs. They said the gossip was that I was a drug lord and funneling drug money into the ranch. As I think back on it now it would probably have been best to root out the sources of the gossip and confront them personally, but at the time I also understood that there would always be small minds whose major pleasures were derived from the actions, inactions, and misfortunes of others, whether true or imaginary. I felt like recognizing such ridiculous gossip would only add credence to it and did not want to stoop to that level. By September of 1995 Garrett had been working for me for six months and the deadline that I had set for transferring our accounts to commercial lending was rapidly approaching. Garrett in his capacity as Chief Financial Officer had been handling all loans and bank transactions. When I inquired about shifting the accounts, he seemed unconcerned. He said that we would shift accounts but there was certainly no hurry and that the people at commercial lending had full portfolios and he preferred to wait a few months until one of the more experienced commercial lending officers could give our account the attention it deserved. It was also in September 1995 that I was first approached by Monty Lucas, president of the Rapid City Branch of Farm Credit Services, about employment. We met at a restaurant in Rapid City for lunch. At that time he explained to me that his future at Farm Credit Services was limited. He said that even if he was moved to one of the more prominent positions in the home office in Omaha, he would never earn more that $70,000 dollars a year. (At that time I was paying Garrett $80,000 dollars a year plus benefits, but that was based against potential net earnings in 1996 of over $3,000,000.00.) I told Lucas that I was flattered that he would ask but at the time I had no position available for him. I also told him that as our operation grew I would keep him in mind. He seemed a bit put off by my refusal to hire him, but the lunch ended amiably and I felt the issue to certainly be shelved if not dead. In late October of 1995 Lucas again approached me at our Rapid City offices and asked if I had thought further about his potential employment. I replied that my response would have to be the same one I had offered him earlier. At that point he told me that handling a large account such as our was difficult job and, although he was certain that he and the bank could continue to meet our needs, it would require a great deal of effort on his part. At that time I told him if the effort became too great to tell me and I could switch banks. Lucas left the office after a strained farewell and promised me as usual that he would be in touch in the future. The remainder of 1995 passed peacefully except for occasional complaints from Garrett about what he perceived to be a deteriorating attitude on the part of Farm Credit Service and Monty Lucas. It was vaguely decided that if things did not improve after the first of the year we would consider the real alternative of changing banks. When we discussed the actual feasibility of that idea, we saw no imaginable problems. The value of the ranch as a whole (land only) was in the neighborhood of twelve to fifteen million dollars if properly marketed. The six thousand head of cattle we (Neteri, the girls and I) personally owned had a minimum value of four million machinery, vehicles, offices and homes had a value of at least one million, and potential earnings for the ranch were 3 million net in 1996, and as much as 15 million net in 1997 (if we could contract enough cattle to fill the market demand). All of this against our present debt load of twelve million gave us a tremendous advantage in negotiation. In late December of 1995 we had our annual cattle inspection. It was the first time I had occasion to spend any length of time with Monty Lucas since our last meeting in my office in late October. Accompanying Lucas on the inspection was a certified Chattel Appraiser from Farm Credit Service. As usual, we saw the cattle owned and contracted and spoke openly of both as if one and the same. Keep in mind that I had a minimum of one and sometimes two cattle inspections each year I was with Farm Credit Services. On each occasion thousands of head of cattle were counted and appraised and on each occasion the bank was completely satisfied. I will say that it is impossible to hide thousands of head of cattle, or to reshow cattle so that they appear to be thousands. The cattle were always there, part owned, part on contract, and Farm Credit had full knowledge as to what they were seeing. For years Farm Credit inspected our cattle and always to their satisfaction. So it was that I was more than surprised in early March of 1996 when I received word through Jeff Garrett that Farm Credit Services wanted another inspection of our cattle and that this time they wanted to see our brand on each head, contracted or owned. I believe that I could have prevailed on our contractors to put our brand on the cattle, but I chose not to. I felt that what had been good enough for Farm Credit in past years would have to be good enough for them now. I told Garrett I would not brand the cattle and I instructed him not only to refuse the inspection but to find another bank. By the fifteenth of March, Garrett had put together financing proposals for the Bank of Boston as well as two other large Ag Banks. March 21st of 1996 was the last day I was in control of Beaver Creek Ranch. As I said earlier, I did not know then all of the things I know now, but at this time I feel that I can safely speculate about the actions of 1995 and early 1996 that were happening without my knowledge and would come to a head on the night of March 21st. I believe that persons of power in the State of South Dakota (I have no knowledge who) contracted with a realtor for the purpose of buying our ranch. I did not know that I had 50 years supply of limestone under my topsoil. I knew there were limestone reserves on the ranch but I did not know their extent. I also believe that they knew that in 1998 South Dakota would receive a 2.2 billion dollar highway grant from the Federal Government. It was their intent to purchase my ranch and mine the limestone for the cement to be used in the highway grant from the Federal Government. With the purchase of my ranch, the state could save millions of dollars by producing their own limestone and cement rather than buying it from an outside source. Instead they could buy it from themselves with federal grant money. They would grow rich and the state’s cash surplus would increase. When I refused to sell I believe, that being reasonable people, they considered pursuing my land through the Statue of Eminent Domain, declaring my land vital to public well-being. I believe they never pursued this avenue because at the time I was a wealthy man and I would have tied them up in the court for years. When they could not purchase and they could not seize, they began investigating me personally. I believe that during the course of that investigation they came across the rumor of drugs, and because it was all they had, I believe they went with that to Farm Credit Services and demanded that our accounts be laid open to them. I would guess at this point that the investigating agency was C.I.D. of Rapid City, or perhaps a state authority, and because our business dealings were in many states, I feel certain that the F.B.I. was also investigating. I believe that a federal bank examiner was brought in and the practice of lending on the strength of contracted cattle was brought into question. At that time the home office in Omaha was contacted with the news that there could be a problem with one of their major accounts. When this news reached Omaha, I believe there was a battle between two camps, one that wanted to save us and one that wanted to hang us. In the end, Farm Credit realized they had vastly more money invested in traditional cattle operations and feedlots than in natural beef. Because Farm Credit is a federally funded institution, the investigation was turned over entirely to the F.B.I. I believe that the F.B.I. received pressure from within the State of South Dakota to press forward with its investigation and to pursue an indictment. I also believe that at some point there was a meeting between state and federal representatives to determine exactly what their objectives were and how best to proceed towards that end. I believe that they knew that in order to be successful, they would have to eliminate my ability to fight back. In order to do that, they would have to seize my lands and my assets and my cash in one fell swoop. In the 1980’s, a series of drug laws were passed through Congress granting more authority to the courts and to law enforcement agencies in the fight against drugs. It was under the power of these laws that they proceeded. Even though I had never missed a bank payment, and even though I have never dealt in drugs, forces of the Federal Government headed by the F.B.I. and the D.E.A and forces of the state government headed by South Dakota Criminal Investigations Division with elements of the state and local police laid siege to my property on the morning of March 22, 1996. At the same time they charged on to my property, they froze my bank accounts, denying me or my family access to even one dollar. At the same time, our cattle, wherever they existed, feed yard, pasture or processing plant, were held under armed guard. Our ranch houses and roads were cordoned off, our employees held away from work and detained and questioned and harassed. They had taken control of all of our assets but for some strange reason, that only they know, they did not immediately come after me. On the morning of March 22, 1996, I was sitting in the Four Seasons Hotel in Boston with my wife and family. It would have been a simple matter for the F.B.I. to arrest me at that time, but they chose not to. Perhaps it served their purposes well to have me at a distance while they consolidated their power. I will never know. The first I knew of the seizure of the ranch came in a telephone call from my attorney, Jan Farrell of Hot Springs, South Dakota on the afternoon of March 22nd. She informed me that federal agents had been in her office that morning. She said that they claimed I was a drug trafficker and that I had seven million dollars in an account in the Caribbean. When I told her that was absurd, she said the agents stated it as a fact and said they had been investigating the matter for over a year. I told her that I would be on the next plane home, but she insisted that I wait until the next day. She said as things stood, I would be arrested as soon as I stepped off the plane. Her tone was doubtful, and she talked to me as if she did not know who to believe, me or the federal agents. I told her that in my office at the ranch as well as in our Rapid City offices were clear and concise records of every monetary transaction that we had made over the years. They clearly showed the source of the money we collected and how these proceeds had been spent. She said that she would go to the ranch and gather what records she could from my study and that I was to call her back that evening. She also said that she had talked to Garrett, and that he was scared and had no idea what was happening, and that she thought he was talking with federal agents as we spoke. She said that it was imperative to immediately prove that there was not seven million dollars hidden in a foreign account. I told her that was a simple matter; just get the bank records in my office. When I called Jane that evening she said that she could no longer represent me. She said the matter had become too big for her and that I needed a criminal attorney. She said that she had gone to the ranch and gotten past the guard at the gate by saying she was my attorney. She gathered the records from my office and on her way back to town she was pulled over by federal agents. The agents confiscated my records and seized her automobile and threatened her with arrest. Although they did not arrest her, they did detain her and transport her back to Hot Springs. She was very shaken when I talked to her, and it was clear that she thought I was indeed what the F.B.I. said I was. Keep in mind this is a woman and an attorney who had watched the ranch grow. She helped draw up the college scholarship funding papers for high school students that Neteri and I personally financed. She oversaw our donations to the Indian schools on the reservation and she monitored our funding of the school to work programs in Edgemont. She knew who we were. Yet still through intimidation and the power of the Federal Government, she chose to believe something completely different than what her own experience, through years of dealings, told her to be true. This would prove to be at least the initial reaction of many, many people. They were guilty of the same virtue that I was guilty of. I grew up believing in my government. I loved my country, as I still do today, and although I may have been naïve, I believed. When my government told me something, I believed it. Despite any evidence to the contrary, I always believed that my government was one of good intent. Because of this, it is difficult to be bitter towards those who turned their backs on us, family and friends alike. After the government had shaken and questioned and threatened them, the path of least resistance was to believe what they were told; to condemn us as bad and be done with the issue. My foreman’s name was Clayton Chord. I had helped him build a cattle heard and I built a large home for his family. I paid him forty thousand dollars a year plus health insurance and gave him an automobile to drive. We worked together for years, but when the F.B.I. finished with him, it was more expedient for him to forget who I was than to remain a friend. When he was questioned, they told him point blank that they knew he was also part of a drug ring. They told him that they would take his home and his property and livestock, and on top of that they would file charges against him and jail him. It was simply too much. They scared away the best part of who he was, and it became easier for him to blame his difficulties on us than to remember the truth. As Jane Farrell and I finished our telephone conversation on the night of March 22, 1996, it was decided that I would call her in the morning at which time she would have the name of a criminal attorney for me to talk to. I told her that we would fly to Denver that night in order to be close to home. She said that if I was using a credit card to travel with, to make my arrangements quickly because my card accounts would soon be cancelled if that was not already the case. Our credit card was still good and I talked again to Jane Farrell the next morning. She gave me the name of a criminal attorney in Rapid City and told me to call him a 1:00PM that afternoon, March 23 rd. She said that she would be with him in his office when I called. At 1:00PM I made the call. Immediately I said that I would come in but I wanted him to talk to the F.B.I. or prosecutor or whoever was in charge and make sure that my wife and daughters would not be bothered. He told me to call him back that evening. When I called back he said that it was no deal. The Federal Prosecutor said that when arrested, both Neteri and I would be jailed and that neither of us would be eligible for bail because we would be considered flight risks until the seven million dollars in an offshore account could be located. He also said that we needed to discuss his fees. He informed me that all of my bank accounts had been frozen and asked if I had additional moneys with which to pay him. It was my impression at that time that he had been convinced that we did have seven million dollars stashed away. He told me that his fee to represent me would require an initial deposit of fifty thousand dollars, and depending upon how long the case ran, a minimum of an additional fifty thousand, or with a full criminal trial, perhaps several hundred thousand dollars. I told him I had no access to any funds, but when this situation was straightened out, money would not be a problem. He told me that he was hesitant to take on a case of this size without a significant capital deposit and suggested that I contact friends and family in an effort to raise the cash. He also said that an additional twenty-five thousand retainer would be necessary if he were to represent Neteri. That day, March 23rd, 1996, I talked to many, many people from our hotel room in Denver. Almost to a person, all that I talked to had also been contacted by some form of law enforcement. There was a concerted effort, as I have come to find is true in all criminal cases, to isolate the accused from friends and family. Additionally all that I talked to believed at least in part what they had been told by federal agents, and all in some fashion had been threatened, if not with loss of property, then with criminal charges should they in any way come to our aid. All of this was before an indictment had even been filed. I talked to the criminal attorney again that evening. At that time I asked again exactly what charges had been filed against me. He said that there was no indictment on record at the present time, but he had been told by prosecutors to expect one at any time. He said that there was also a possibility of a sealed indictment, which he would have no knowledge of until such time as it was actually served. He also made it clear that if the prosecution was uncertain how to indict, they would arrest us on a writ stating that we were wanted for questioning and hold us up to 30 days before filing charges. By the evening of March 23rd I had no idea what to do. My first inclination was to go immediately back and jump into the fight, but I feared for my family. At the time, our five daughters were ages 16 to 4 years old. I did not want them to go through what appeared to be a long battle ahead alone without their mother. I also had doubts about their means of support and the simplest questions such as where they would live. One of the people I had not talked to on March 23rd was Jeff Garrett. The reason I did not call Garrett was that all through the day there had been something in the back of my mind, something bothering me. Each person I had talked to spoke with surety about the information federal agents had given them. I was puzzled because if indeed they had been investigating for a year, how could they not know where our money had come from and where it was going. Money trails are clear, and in our case, straight forward, and I assumed that the federal agents were not fools. If indeed seven million dollars was in a foreign account, it was not inconceivable that Garrett and Lucas could have instrumented additional loans without my knowledge and secreted away the money. This seemed too far fetched to believe, but then again, everything that was happening to us had a dreamlike quality, it was all farfetched. Everyone believed that seven million dollars was missing, and they all thought that I took it. I knew I hadn’t, so who had? Keep in mind, at this time, I knew nothing of limestone or of federal highway grants or of the extremes the government would go to in pursuit of an end. I was concerned about the collateralization of contracted cattle realizing that practice was borderline at best, but always I fell back on the assurances of the bank that there were many ways to handle the different needs of profitable and unusual accounts and that it was within their discretionary power to exercise and execute those ways. The cattle were collateralized on a simple formula to equate their value: A. Our contract price with Oxford was $1,549.00 fat B. To process, feed, raise and buy a weinling calf cost us a maximum of $1,000.00 C. The net value of the animal was $549.00 Each animal on contract was collateralized in this same fashion, on a receivable basis for the projected amount of net profit that animal would yield. We had a twelve million dollar debt with Farm Credit Services. They had been our bank for years, and they had approved and financed and examined each phase of our growth. Anyone who has ever had a checking account knows that it is impossible to gain those kinds of assets and run the type of operation we ran for the years we ran it without the bank knowing exactly what you are doing. The fact that the back can say that they knew nothing of what was going on, (completely ignoring the existence of contracted cattle) and state dully and simply that there were thousands of cattle missing is preposterous, and clearly shows, by the acceptance of that statement, that there were other powers at work. By the morning of March 24, 1996, things were so unreal and so confusing that I did not know which way to turn. I continued making phone calls to attorneys and stating that I would come in immediately if the safety of my wife and daughters was guaranteed and on the condition they would not be separated. I never received that guarantee. Because everything was so uncertain, I chose to control the only segment of my life over which I had immediate influence, the safety and unity of my family. I decided to stay away for another week by which time I hoped things would begin to sort themselves out. I believed that as the investigation continued, it would become clear that no drugs had ever been involved in any way with our operation. I also believed that if there were improprieties on Garrett’s part, they would eventually come to light. Additionally I still believed that our most effective position to combat the attacks against us was in the outside world, not locked quietly away in jail cells. We borrowed a vehicle from friends, drew three thousand dollars on a credit card, and headed west. Once again I will take this opportunity to look back on events with the perspective of hindsight, and once again I believe I can safely speculate about actions that occurred and plans that were made without my knowledge. I believe that the actions of the Federal Government and of Farm Credit Services, subject to pressure from state agencies, was well thought out and carefully planned. I believe that federal banking regulators, with encouragement from the State of South Dakota and above, enforced a strict interpretation of the debt/collateral relationship and brought Farm Credit to task on the perceived impropriety of our loans. I believe Farm Credit faced an extended investigation and auditing process not only on our loan, but on hundreds of other loans that could be characterized in the same fashion. That pressure, coupled with the strength of the camp within Farm Credit who applauded our demise, was sufficient to induce Farm Credit Services as an agency to cooperate fully with prosecutors. I believe that Farm Credit cooperated in the following manner. I believe they agreed not to continue on with the Boston contract which would have left them liable to a civil suit from me, which if lost would funnel great amounts of money my way, and which I could have used in a vigorous defense. Towards the same ends of leaving me defenseless, I believe that Farm Credit agreed to fire sale all my assets in order to assure that there would be no money left over from which I could mount a defense. Any loses they incurred in this process would easily be overridden by bad loan insurance as well as bad debt write offs on their tax statements. Additionally, a loss on our account would be insignificant when compared to potential losses should federal banking regulators choose to go through Farm Credit accounts and lending practices with a fine tooth comb. The guise of drug involvement could only last for a short time because there were no drugs, but it did last long enough (with assets seized) for us to become delinquent on our loan payment with Farm Credit Services. When that time arrived, I was charged with three counts of making a false statement to a lending institution and one count of illegal monetary transaction (although I was not aware of it at the time because the indictments were sealed). At that same time, Farm Credit Services received a court order from a South Dakota judge allowing them to liquidate all of our assets by whatever means available, and also at that same time, federal agencies admitted that they had made a mistake and that there was no drug involvement on our ranch but that they had discovered illegal monetary activities on a massive scale for which I was criminally liable. The last thing ever said about drugs by federal authorities was that they had assumed because of the great amounts of money the ranch was dealing in, that there was a met amphetamine lab on our property. They had assumed incorrectly, but still the presumption of drugs had been a sufficient tool to seize our property and hold it idle and non-productive until our loan payments became delinquent and a court order could be obtained for liquidation. Garrett and Lucas indeed had not secreted away funds. When the accusation of drug involvement disappeared, so did the accusation of seven million dollars hidden in a foreign account. I believe that what happened with both Garrett and Lucas is that they were threatened with criminal prosecution and severely harassed. I believe that the price for their freedom then, as it remains now, is their silence about events concerning Beaver Creek Ranch unless it conforms exactly to the party line. The first example of that silence was their failure to immediately protest the notion, privately and publicly, that seven million dollars was missing when they knew it to be an impossibility. The events I have just described evolved over a sixty day period from March 22, 1996 to the middle of May, 1996. Also during that time, because our accounts were frozen, no payments could be made to smaller collateral bank loans, or credit cards, or any other bills, and indeed I was charged with two counts of passing bad checks in the State of Wyoming when checks were presented for payment on our bank account which had been frozen by the Federal Government. On March 30th, a week after my decision to stay away from the ranch, things remained the same. I talked to a friend who assured me that the ranch was continuing to run. Our employees had been maintained, and although no cattle were moving on the Boston contract, the animals were being fed and the property looked after. He said the employees had been told that this would be the case until the cattle finished calving in mid May at which time they would be informed of any additional plans and how long they could expect their employment to last. Although at that time drugs were still the issue, I felt that things had at least slowed down and hoped that saner heads would prevail. Shortly after that conversation and despite assurances given to my employees, they were all terminated and ordered off the ranch. For some reason, the authorities had grown nervous. They brought in their own people, they locked cats and dogs together in the house, they rounded up all horses, studs, mares, and geldings and colts and put them in one small pasture (over 100 head on a 100 acre pasture with studs fighting each other and fighting geldings and chewing themselves up on the barbed wire fences). They quit attending the calving cows, and they quit feeding the livestock. Things went on in this fashion for a couple of weeks until they began hauling animals in a wholesale fashion to market. The cattle were down and drawn when they went to sale – the horses were thin and lame and beaten. Cows were dropping calves in the cattle truck and sale barn. Purebred saler cattle were dumped at a fraction of their value, most selling in the neighborhood of three to five hundred dollars as opposed to an average market price of $900 or $1,200 dollars. The horses were virtually given away. Next there was a ranch sale. They sold everything; my daughters’ clothes, and toys and family pictures and videotapes, my mother’s china, every possession small, large or personal was auctioned off. The things they could not sell they placed in a large pit on the ranch and burned. The last week of April, we again made contact with a friend in South Dakota. It was at that time we received the news of the above sales. Neteri, the girls and I were wall devastated. Rather that things getting better, it appeared they were getting worse. I could not understand at the time how such actions could be taken. To disregard the Boston contract, to sell assets unnecessarily at a loss, to intentionally inflict damage rather than attempt reparation seemed impossible to me. There was no concern for repaying bills or paying debts. The only concern seemed to be a personal attack on me and my family and any future we might have. I punished myself for a long time thinking that if I had gone back I might have been able to stop it, but in the back of my mind I knew that if they were capable of taking the actions they had just taken, they were also capable of silencing me. It was not until that time that I realized the power of the forces aligned against me and the lengths to which they were capable of going. The only positive news of this entire affair was the accusation of drugs had been dropped. Shortly thereafter I made contact with an attorney who informed me, after discussing the matter with the Federal Prosecutor, that there was still a warrant out for my arrest, but again the warrant was only for questioning. I again said that I would come in with a guarantee that Neteri would not be bothered. To my great surprise, the answer came back no. Not only would Neteri be jailed, but she would also be ineligible for bail because we had been gone for over 30 days and would again be considered a flight risk. After this conversation, it occurred to me for the first time that someone wanted me gone. For the next months we kept in touch with many people and our location was not a secret that was guarded with any diligence. I could have been arrested at any time, but some reason, they didn’t come. Between April of 1996 and February 2, 1997, we talked with many people. I supported my family by driving a cab in South Lake Tahoe, California, and we waited. We attempted on several occasions to hire attorneys, both criminal and civil, but on all occasions the fact that we had no money became the deciding issue. There was no attorney willing to speculate on our case considering the expense and time involved. Finally, on the night of February 2, 1997, the F.B.I. came to our door and arrested both myself and Neteri. We were fortunate to have a very close and kind neighbor who knew our situation and immediately took charge of the girls. Neteri and I were held in custody and transported through the federal prison system back to South Dakota. It took 28 days to get back to South Dakota at which time Neteri was immediately release with no federal charges ever being filed against her. Sometime later our ranch was partitioned and 75% of it sold at a closed sealed bid auction. I discovered that the buyer of the ranch had purchased it at a devalued price and under the condition that he remain anonymous. The kept me away by threatening to jail my wife, yet they didn’t want Neteri after all. They could have arrested me at any time, yet they chose to wait until after portions of my ranch were sold. If they wanted the ranch so badly, why squander its assets and potential rather than continuing on with a profitable operation? It was a year later, in March of 1998, while I sat in a jail cell that the answer finally became clear to me. It leaked out through the forest service that the State of South Dakota had been the anonymous purchaser of Beaver Creek Ranch. The next day the State announced that they had indeed purchased Beaver Creek Ranch because it had 50 years worth of limestone beneath its soil. They announced plans to build a cement factory and begin mining at the soonest possible date. That same month, headlines in the newspaper declared a 2.2 billion dollar highway grant had been awarded to South Dakota. When I was incarcerated I had no money to hire an attorney. I was turned over to a public defender. I was not allowed to talk to the press. From the outset I was told that I would cooperate and that I would say the things they required me to say in order to bring this case to an expedient closure. I was repeatedly reminded that if I pursued the idea of going to trial, indeed if I filed one motion with the court, that my wife would be indicted and jailed and the state would file for custody of my children. I signed a plea agreement for 51 to 63 months in federal prison. The judge told me that I had “the audacity to place the safety and well-being of my family above the law”, and he sentenced me to 84 months. My family struggled for two years and one month, often without the means to pay for dentists, or shoes or clothes. My wife was left alone without one possession, not a knife or fork or towel or washcloth, to begin again with nothing, to care for five children, without one possession or dollar. On the night of March 14, 1999, I crawled over three 14 foot fences and walked away from a Federal Prison Camp. e-mail:: modelodelight@hotmail.com, zrachel@gmail.com phone:: (505)242-6265 Taken from http://www.indymedia.org/en/2006/02/833715.shtml --------------------- - BACK TO INDEX - REPLY - QUOTE - EDIT - DELETE -

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