Rachel Alexander

December 27, 2021

-Townhall

 

What started out as accusations of cattle rustling in Arizona has risen to accusations of money laundering, which has become so contentious there are now multiple defamation lawsuits. The cowboys accused of illegal activity, including theft, have filed lawsuits against other cowboys who they believed spread information about their alleged involvement.

But the accused state that they did not disseminate the information, it was the accusers’ own associates who did so. Now the situation has gotten so contentious no one dares to investigate the allegations of cattle theft and money laundering, and no one will talk on the record. It has rocked the cattle industry in Arizona and turned people in the industry against each other. Since it is a relatively small industry compared to others in the state, it hasn’t gotten much attention either.

The controversy over cattle rustling escalated when the Arizona Department of Agriculture (ADA) hired a man named Wesley Dutton as a confidential informant to delve into the allegations of cattle theft and money laundering in 2019, something Judicial Watch was also looking into. Dutton produced an investigative report that became known as the “Dutton report,” which contained allegations of thousands of heads of cattle stolen, political corruption, mafia involvement and unlicensed behavior. The report named 40 suspected cattle thieves.