A South Dakota ranch couple is fighting federal indictments served to them by a U.S. Forest Service agent who allegedly showed up unannounced on their front steps — armed and in tactical gear. The agent was there to serve them with indictments in a modern-day range war between the ranchers and feds.
“It’s is stressful, financially and mentally. It’s something nobody should have to go through,” rancher Charles Maude of Caputa, South Dakota, told Cowboy State Daily on Tuesday.
He and his wife Heather, who is a Wyoming native, were served with separate federal grand jury indictments June 24, for alleged theft of government property. The government claims the fence put up by the ranchers is over a boundary with federal grasslands.
The charges carry a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and/or a $250,000 fine.
The indictments were served by Forest Service Special Agent Travis Lunders. According to reports, Lunders showed up unannounced at the Maudes’ home armed and in tactical gear to serve the indictments.
The incident has sparked nationwide outrage, Rachel Gabel, assistant editor of the Fence Post, a national agricultural newspaper, told Cowboy State Daily.
“I think there will be accountability. There are a number of members of Congress who are anxious to get him (Lunders) in front of their committees,” said Gabel, who knows the Maudes and has been covering their story.
Can’t Speak Openly
Forest Service spokesman Scott Jacobson told Cowboy State Daily that the agency can’t comment on the case, because it’s an ongoing legal matter.
Heather and Charles Maude also likewise said they couldn’t discuss the case in detail because it is ongoing.
Since each spouse was given a separate indictment, “They can’t even talk about the case with one another,” Gabel said.
Heather told Cowboy State Daily that she grew up on a multi-generation family ranch in northern Niobrara County, 56 miles from Lusk.
She is a University of Wyoming graduate, and at one time was the assistant editor of the Wyoming Livestock Roundup.
The Maudes’ South Dakota ranch is “a direct-to-consumer beef and pork operation,” and the meat is processed in Sheridan, Wyoming, Heather said.
A GoFundMe campaign has been set up to help the Maudes with their legal fees. As of Tuesday afternoon, it had raised $10,637 of a $77,000 goal.
Property Line Dispute
At issue is a murky boundary between the Maudes’ land and national grassland,controlled by the Forest Service.
Several generations of the Maude family have ranched there since the 1910s, and the family also has leases on the adjoining national grasslands, Gabel said.
The disputed boundary is along a fence line that’s about 75 years old, and at one point the Maudes attached at “no hunting” sign on one of the posts.
After a hunter complained about the sign the Forest Service told them to remove it March 29, they did, Gabel said, adding that the Maudes haven’t yet been shown any documentation of the hunter’s complaint.
On May 1, the Maudes met with Julie Wheeler, the Forest Service district ranger for the Fall River Ranger District/Buffalo Gap National Grassland.
It was decided during that meeting that a land survey was in order to settle the property boundaries once and for all, Gabel said.
Wheeler told the couple that might take up to year. Then five days later, Lunders showed up with a survey crew — without prior notice or permission to enter ranch property, Gabel said.
And then on June 24, 87 days after the Maudes were told to take down the “no trespassing sign,” Lunders showed up on their front steps, again without notice, to serve the indictments, she added.
For the case “to go from zero to 120 mph in 87 days” has left many in the agricultural community feeling baffled and angry, Gabel said.
There have been ongoing tensions between the Forest Service and ranchers in the area, she added.
“The Forest Service has long said they want to be good neighbors, and taking shots at easy targets isn’t being good neighbors,” Gabel said.
Contact Mark Heinz at mark@cowboystatedaily.com
Mark Heinz can be reached at mark@cowboystatedaily.com.
