NCBA's Lane: Maude Indictments Inspire Anger from Caputa to Capitol Hill

WASHINGTON, D.C., August 8, 2024 — From boots on the ground in South Dakota to the top of Capitol Hill, a fence line dispute that resulted in separate federal Grand Jury indictments for a ranching couple has the attention of all involved. And anger is the overwhelming response.

In a letter to U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Vilsack, S.D. Senator Mike Rounds called the indictments for theft of government property served – by USFS Special Agent Travis Lunders while unannounced, armed, and in full tactical gear - on Charles and Heather Maude of Caputa an overzealous prosecution of a ranching family. National Cattlemen's Beef Association VP of Government Affairs Ethan Lane said the inappropriate behavior of USFS employees in South Dakota isn’t new.

“It didn’t take us long to go through the paces to get to the bottom of what was happening in South Dakota and that conversation was received in exactly the same kind of anger we received it when we took it up to Capitol Hill and started talking to folks on the Natural Resources Committee,” Lane said. “Chairman Westerman and his staff are acutely aware of this long history of abuse by the Forest Service in this part of the world.”

Lane said the criminal charges against the Maudes should be dismissed immediately and ranchers and permittees who see themselves in the Maude’s struggles should know there is a significant movement for justice in motion.

“We’re right here,” Lane said. “We are in the right. The law is on our side and when the law is on your side, and when you are right and when you have structures in place inside the industry to deal with these kinds of things, you use that authority, you use that platform to go through those channels and get justice and that’s the process we’re going to go through here.”

Charged separately, the Maudes have both been forced to retain counsel. To support them by helping defer their legal costs, you may donate to the Maude Legal Fund c/o First Interstate Bank, P.O. Box 98, New Underwood, S.D. 57761 or https://gofund.me/1819ae4a. 

Source: Rachel Gabel, The Fence Post Magazine and Western Ag Network