Cattle rustling still a problem on the rez

Cattle rustling continues to be a major problem for livestock owners on the Navajo Reservation as understaffed tribal departments continue to do their best to deal with the problem with help from law enforcement agencies off the reservation.

And while the majority of cattle thefts end up with no one being arrested, there are times when suspected cattle thieves do face justice.

McKinley County Sheriff Deputy J. Bowman said he was dispatched to the Rico Ranch in Red Rock, New Mexico, on April 24 to investigate two men who were trying to sell cattle without the proper paperwork. When he got to the ranch he found out that the cattle had no brand.

He also found the six head of cattle in a horse trailer, alongside of which were two men who appeared, he said, to be intoxicated.

The driver of the van that was towing the horse trailer, later identified as Leadrean Lynch, 31, told Bowman he had no paperwork. “These are my uncle’s cattle,” he said.

He then talked to the passenger in the van, Ben Lynch, 53, who said, “These are my cattle. I left the paperwork in Oaksprings.”

Bowman questioned both men and finally turned over the case to a local livestock inspector, Bryon Murphy, who arrived at the site shortly after Bowman, who brought him up to date on what he had learned.

After interviewing the two men himself, Murphy placed both men under arrest for six counts of larceny (livestock) and transported them to the McKinley County Adult Detention Center where jail officials reported that Ben Lynch is still incarcerated in light of a 2016 conviction of aggravated DWI (fourth offense) for which he pleaded guilty and was on probation. Leadrean Lynch is not listed as an inmate.

Stanley Milford, head of the tribe’s Resource Enforcement Department, said the problem of cattle rustling is something tribal rangers have to deal with all year around.
“I don’t think it ever ends,” he said.

His office reported to members of the Navajo Nation Council in April that livestock/horse theft and cattle rustling investigations for Tselani/Cottonwood and the southwest region of the Navajo Nation are still being conducted.

Individuals related to the cases and others involved are being located and interviewed with assistance of the Chinle police criminal investigations. The department is also working with the Arizona livestock inspector with the Arizona Department of Agriculture and cases are expected to be filed with the U.S. district prosecutor in Flagstaff.

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