Glatt to spend four years in prison for cattle crimes

April 7, 2021

A Mandan, N.D., man will serve four years in federal prison for bank fraud and transporting stolen livestock across state lines. 

Today, U.S. District Judge Daniel M. Traynor sentenced Kelly Anthony Glatt, age 39, to 48 months’ imprisonment on the fraud conviction and 36 months’ imprisonment on the transportation conviction. The sentences will run concurrently. Glatt will then serve a three-year term of supervised release. He was also ordered to pay $1.84 million in restitution and $200 in special assessments.

The sentencing follows Glatt’s convictions in U.S. District Court on Oct. 13. A jury found him guilty of the crimes committed between February 2014 and July 2017.

 Glatt took out a loan from a North Dakota bank for $1.5 million to purchase cattle and livestock-related supplies. The bank obtained a security interest in the cattle, which were left in Glatt’s custody. Additionally, Glatt took custody of multiple other individuals’ cattle. Evidence showed that Glatt took affirmative steps to hide collateral and assets from the bank and other victims, fraudulently filed an agricultural statutory lien in another person’s name and transported stolen cattle from North Dakota to South Dakota. 

In court documents, Glatt is said to have told another man, “I believe I was just able to rob a bank without using a gun.”

 “The defendant took advantage of and defrauded both hardworking ranchers and a North Dakota financial institution,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Nick Chase.

 North Dakota Stockmen’s Association (NDSA) Chief Brand Inspector Blaine Northrop was a lead investigator in this case. He was joined by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Morton County Sheriff’s Department. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jonathan J. O’Konek and Eric Lundberg and Department of Justice Trial Attorney Joseph McFarlane.

 “The Stockmen’s Association was founded to help put a stop to livestock theft,” explained NDSA President Jeff Schafer, a New Rockford, N.D., cow-calf producer and feeder. “More than nine decades later, protecting against livestock theft is still a pillar of what we do. We are proud to have worked this case along with our other law enforcement partners and are pleased to finally see some justice for the producers and bank who fell victim to Kelly Glatt.”

 Source: North Dakota Stockmen’s Association