Two Individuals Arrested in Connection With a Missing Check at the Gillespie County Livestock Auction

This week, two individuals were arrested in connection with a missing check at the Gillespie County Livestock Auction. Those arrested were Gustafson and Mahaffey. The theft of the check is not the first time the auction has faced legal trouble, and it is not surprising to hear that charges have been filed against this company and its owners. Here are a few facts about the alleged theft and the charges against the Gillespie County Livestock Auction.
Gustafson and Mahaffey arrested

A check for $800,000 that was supposed to go to a rancher in Boerne was missing from a car parked outside the Gillespie County Livestock Auction in Kerrville. A special ranger with the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association and a Gillespie County employee, Mike Barr, conducted a search and discovered the missing check. The search turned up several items, including illegal drugs, forgery tools, and stolen checks, credit cards, and other identification documents. The suspects were arrested and transferred to jail in lieu of bond.
Missing check

A Texas & Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association Special Ranger has been charged with forgery in the case of a missing check at a Gillespie County Livestock Auction. According to the TSCRA, the investigation was initiated in November 2018 when a rancher in Boerne sold cattle at the auction market but never received a check for the sale. That led investigators to the suspects, Kerrville residents Faith Jillian Mahaffey and Tyler Benjamin Gustafson.
Missing check at Gillespie Livestock Auction

A missing check at the Gillespie County Livestock Auction led investigators to two Kerrville residents whose cattle were sold at the livestock auction. A special ranger from the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association (TSCRA) and a Texas State Bureau of Investigation special agent have been assigned to the case. The TSCRA is the state’s cattle raising association and the TSCRA Special Rangers investigate agricultural and cattle crimes. The organization employs 30 Special Rangers in Texas who specialize in cattle theft and other agricultural crimes.
Charges filed against Gillespie County Livestock Auction

The county of Fredericksburg is in west central Texas, approximately 65 miles north of San Antonio and seventy miles west of Austin. The county seat is Fredericksburg, two miles west of the county center. The county is made up of approximately 1,061 square miles, with most of the area situated on the Edwards Plateau. The northeastern corner of the county lies in the Llano River basin, a watershed that is unsuitable for intensive agriculture.

Approximately 573,000 acres of land are in Gillespie County, 85 percent of which is rangeland. In 1982, agriculture provided $30 million in annual revenue to the county, making up more than 90 percent of the total county income. The county ranked first in peaches, second in turkeys, sixth in hogs, and ninth in oats and mohair. While there are 1353 people in the county, there are about 250 hogs per person.