Deputy Sheriff Nicholas Vargas was accompanying Omaha-based Producers Livestock Credit Corp. on a trip to repossess cattle from Steven Clason on Jan. 18, according to an affidavit for his arrest.
Vargas and others found the bodies of 93 dead cattle and calves left to rot and be trampled by other cattle.
Producers Livestock Vice President Joel Petersen had been to the property outside Beaver City a few days earlier to inspect animals that had been used as collateral on a loan, according to documents in a bankruptcy case Clason filed Jan. 18 in the U.S. District Court of Nebraska.
Clason still had 900 to 1,000 cattle -- alive but in poor condition, Petersen said in an affidavit.
“The cattle were malnourished, their bones were visible through their hides and many had died. Dead animals lay in the feed bunks and in the yard,” Petersen wrote. “It appears Debtor (Clason) was feeding the remaining cattle over the top of carcasses.”
Water tanks for the animals were dry, documents said.
Court documents show Clason borrowed money on Sept. 22 to buy 2,182 head of cattle, of which he sold 919. As of Jan. 15, Clason owed the company $2.27 million.
When the deputy sheriff and Producers Livestock officials went to retrieve the remaining animals, Clason had blocked access to the feed yard with machinery, Petersen wrote.
U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Thomas Saladino issued an order on Jan. 20 allowing Producers Livestock to take possession of the remaining cattle, which Clason agreed to.
He has been charged with six felony counts of cruel neglect of livestock and six misdemeanor counts of improper disposal of carcasses.
Clason is out on $50,000 bond. Neither he nor his attorney could be reached for comment.
(Journal Star - Feb 6, 2016)
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