A longtime Sublette County ranch manager is accused in a sprawling theft case that includes cattle rustling and more than $300,000 allegedly siphoned from the ranch he managed.
A total of 57 cattle carried the brand of Seneca Industries, the company that employed Robert “Bob” James Griffith while he managed Twin Eagle Ranch from 2014 until October 2023. Investigators also have traced money from cattle grazing, elk hunts, gravel, and even livestock equipment.
The nearly 15,000-acre ranch sits about 15 miles north of Cora along the Green River, in the ranch country of northern Sublette County.
Griffith, 58, signed an estray disclaimer over ownership of the 57 cows, Sublette County Sheriff's Office Detective Scott Campbell wrote in an affidavit. But investigators heard a different story about where the cattle came from.
Some sources told Campbell that Griffith acquired the cows from Twin Eagle Ranch or Seneca Industries. Another said Twin Eagle Ranch President Chris Cline gave them to Griffith.
There was nothing on paper to settle it.
Griffith “had no bill of sale or paperwork verifying this claim of ownership, by either purchase or gift,” Campbell wrote.
Investigators followed the paper trail through checks, bank accounts and ranch records, finding money repeatedly flowing to Griffith or Dodge Butte LLC but never back to the ranch.
‘Some Grass’
By far the largest payment involved between 800 and 1,000 cattle grazing on Twin Eagle Ranch during the summers of 2022 and 2023.
The rancher told investigators Griffith directed him to pay $169,348.14 in pasture fees to Dodge Butte LLC.
Other ranchers described much the same arrangement.
One said he wrote Griffith a $45,000 check in 2021 for what he described simply as “some grass.”
Another paid Griffith $19,895.04 that year to pasture cows on Twin Eagle Ranch.
Investigators also traced payments from a father and son who grazed about 150 cows there in 2022. One paid $4,198.62 to Dodge Butte, marking the check “Pasture-Thanks,” while the other paid another $2,413.35 for his share of the pasture.
By the time investigators added up those checks, they had traced $240,855.15 in cattle-grazing payments to Griffith or Dodge Butte.
Campbell found no record showing any of it ultimately went to Twin Eagle Ranch or Seneca Industries.
Gravel, Elk Hunts
It wasn't just cattle.
Investigators say Griffith also collected $21,000 for gravel taken from Twin Eagle Ranch and used it to build a road on an easement extending into the neighboring Flying A Ranch.
The contractor said Griffith told him to pay Griffith rather than the ranch. The resulting check was made out to “Bob Griffith,” with one word on the memo line: “Gravel.”
Then there were the elk.
A hunter told investigators he paid Griffith $5,500 to hunt a bull elk on Twin Eagle Ranch in 2021, writing the check directly to “Bob Griffith” with “Elk Hunt” on the memo line.
He returned the following year to hunt a cow elk, paying another $1,500, this time to Dodge Butte Ranch.
That brought the gravel and hunting money to $28,000, all of which investigators traced to Griffith or his company without finding a record of it reaching Twin Eagle Ranch or Seneca Industries.
Bale Stacker, Stalls
Investigators say Griffith didn't just collect money for what happened on the ranch. They allege he sold pieces of the ranch itself.
In June 2023, a 1997 Pro Ag bale stacker went up for sale through the online agricultural auction company BigIron, where the listing identified Griffith as both the seller and “Owner.”
The sale brought $19,580, but when investigators compared the machine with a 2019 inventory of Twin Eagle Ranch equipment, the serial numbers matched, identifying it as ranch property.
The following month, Griffith sold four livestock stalls for $3,000 apiece, with the buyer picking them up directly from Twin Eagle Ranch.
The $12,000 check was made out to “Bob Griffith,” with “Stalls” written on the memo line.
Like the other money investigators traced, Campbell found no record of the combined $31,580 from those sales ever making it to Twin Eagle Ranch or Seneca Industries.
100 Years
Put together, the transactions detailed in the affidavit total $300,435.15 — over a quarter-million dollars in cattle-grazing fees, another $28,000 from gravel and elk hunts and $31,580 from the sale of ranch equipment and stalls.
Separate were the 57 cows bearing Seneca Industries' brand whose ownership investigators questioned.
The investigation resulted in 10 counts of felony theft against Griffith, who was arrested Aug. 14 and released after posting a $50,000 cash bond, court records made available Monday show.
His preliminary hearing was Aug. 25, when the case was bound over to Sublette County District Court. District Judge Kate McKay has been assigned the case, and Griffith is represented by Pinedale attorney Clayton Kainer.
Wyoming law makes theft of property worth $1,000 or more a felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
With 10 felony counts, Griffith faces 100 years in prison.
Kolby Fedore can be reached at kolby@cowboystatedaily.com.
