Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
MULESHOE — A Texico man pleaded guilty Friday to theft of livestock charges in Muleshoe.
Jeffrey Provence, 52, received a two-year deferred sentence and paid restitution to Frontera Feedyard for selling company cattle as his own for nearly four years.
Auction records indicated Provence would bring cattle to auctions on behalf of the feedyard, but also check in a few of the animals under his own name. An investigation found Provence had sold 95 head of cattle for more than $62,000 between August 2014 and April 2018.
The investigation was a joint effort of the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association and the Muleshoe Police Department.
“It may seem like an easy, harmless transgression to take a few cattle or supplies from your employer, but that is called theft,” TSCRA Special Ranger Dean Bohannon said in a release.
No contact information was available for Provence.