Anthony Whittley 28, of Parsons, Kansas, and Jasmine Boone, a/k/a Jasmine Thomas, 28, of Wister, have pleaded guilty to cattle rustling, according to United States Attorney Timothy J. Downing.
On March 19, 2019, a federal grand jury returned a two-count indictment that charged Whittley and Boone with transporting seventeen stolen cattle in interstate commerce on December 11, 2018, by moving them from Cherokee County, Kansas, to the Oklahoma National Stockyards Company in Oklahoma City.
Agents arrested the pair when the sale was complete. They have been in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service since early April.
On June 5, both Whittley and Boone pleaded guilty to transporting cattle in interstate commerce. They acknowledged in a written plea agreement that they committed similar thefts in Crawford County, Kansas, and LeFlore County, Oklahoma, in the second half of 2018. They admitted they sold these cattle in Tulsa and Springfield, Missouri, respectively.
They also admitted they sold cattle stolen in Cherokee County, Kansas, in Siloam Springs, Arkansas.
Whittley has agreed to pay more than $43,000 in restitution, including more than $15,000 to the Farm Service Agency, part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, for the sale of mortgaged cattle without the lender’s authorization. Boone has agreed to pay more than $28,000 in restitution.
Each defendant could be sentenced to a maximum of five years in prison, in addition to three years of supervised release, and fined up to $250,000. Sentencing will take place in approximately 90 days.
This case is the result of an investigation by the Major Theft Task Force of the FBI Oklahoma City Division; the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture; the Missouri Highway Patrol; the Kansas Attorney General’s Office; the County Attorney’s Offices and Sheriff’s Offices in Cherokee County and Crawford County, Kansas; and the District Attorney’s Office of LeFlore County, Oklahoma. Assistant U.S. Attorney Edward J. Kumiega is prosecuting the case.
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