Tri-County owner charged with cattle theft in South Dakota

Joe Varner The owner of the Tr i - County Livestock Sales at Motley has been charged with the theft of cattle at a sales barn he owns in Watertown, South Dakota.

Joey J. Varner, 52, of Pierz, who owns or coowns 15 sales barns in three states, was arrested June 23, at the Fergus Falls Livestock Auction.

Varner posted bond shortly after his arrest and is scheduled to make an initial court appearance in Codington County District Court in Watertown on July 14. Reached by phone on June 29, Varner said that the case would have to make its way through court. "I'm in the business of selling cattle, not stealing them," he said, adding that other than that, he had no comment.

The Todd and Ottertail County Sheriff's departments assisted an investigator from the South Dakota State Brand Board on June 23, in locating and arresting Varner, according to a Todd County news release. He had been the subject of an investigation for several months by the South Dakota Brand Board and the Codington County Sheriff's Department.

An arrest warrant had been issued in South Dakota for grand theft, a Class Three felony in South Dakota.On March 3, 188 head of cattle with an average weight of 800 pounds , were reported missing from the Watertown Livestock Auction barn at Watertown.

At the time of the theft, the cattle involved were under the control of the U. S. Bankruptcy Court, pending the sale at the Watertown sales barn scheduled for that day.

The complaint alleges that sometime in the early morning hours of March 3, the cattle were taken from a pen on the grounds of the Watertown sales barn.