{"id":251178,"date":"2026-04-15T17:23:07","date_gmt":"2026-04-15T17:23:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/251178\/"},"modified":"2026-04-15T17:23:07","modified_gmt":"2026-04-15T17:23:07","slug":"organized-livestock-theft-operation-leads-to-5-arrests-in-texas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/251178\/","title":{"rendered":"Organized livestock theft operation leads to 5 arrests in Texas"},"content":{"rendered":"

Five men have been arrested in connection with an organized livestock theft<\/a> operation in Central Texas. The crime, which included the death of nearly 70 cattle, was linked to the two small cities of Florence and\u00a0Schwertner, both just north of Austin in Williamson County.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Williamson County Sheriff’s Office (WCSO) said in a press release<\/a> that the arrests followed a months-long, multi-agency investigation. All five suspects were charged with theft of livestock between $30,000 and $150,000, a third-degree felony under Texas Penal Code 31.03.\u201cThis case highlights the dedication of our investigators and the strong collaboration between agencies to combat organized agricultural crime,” said Williamson County Sheriff Matt Lindemann in a release. “Livestock theft has a significant financial impact on our agricultural community, and we remain committed to holding offenders accountable.”<\/p>\n

WCSO identified the suspects arrested as 50-year-old Ramon Martinez Miranda, 58-year-old Miguel Martinez\u00a0Mons,\u00a042-year-old Orleydis Martin Reyes,\u00a034-year-old Yasmani Galis-Hernandez and\u00a041-year-old Reidel Martinez. As of April 10, all five men were in custody at the Williamson County Jail.<\/p>\n

Although the arrests occurred last week, suspicions over the livestock began more than three months ago. On December 3, 2025, Florence Police Department officers conducted a traffic stop on a pickup truck towing a trailer with improper lighting.<\/p>\n

During the stop, officers found three dead cattle in the trailer, along with evidence indicating that the animals had been recently killed.\u00a0
A deeper investigation by\u00a0WCSO revealed that the cattle were stolen from Capitol Land &\u00a0Livestock<\/a> in Schwertner, Texas.<\/p>\n

Authorities collected several forms of evidence, including “physical evidence, witness statements, digital forensic analysis and cell phone location data indicating the suspects were involved in an organized scheme.” WCSO said they\u00a0found the men responsible for the theft and slaughter of approximately 70 head of cattle over several months.<\/p>\n

Investigators also discovered multiple crime scenes where pasture fencing had been cut in a consistent way to help facilitate the theft of livestock. In addition, police recovered ammunition, tools used in processing animals and photographic documentation of stolen and slaughtered cattle found on a suspect\u2019s cell phone.<\/p>\n

Although a motive for the crime was not shared, WCSO concluded\u00a0that all five suspects acted together to commit the offenses. Throughout the investigation, WCSO worked with the Florence Police\u00a0Department, Texas & Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association Special Rangers, and Texas Parks & Wildlife Department Game Wardens.<\/p>\n

The investigation remains ongoing, and anyone with information is asked to call the Williamson County Sheriff\u2019s Office at (512) 943-1300 or the non-emergency dispatch line at (512) 864-8282.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Five men have been arrested in connection with an organized livestock theft operation in Central Texas. The crime,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":251179,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[132,134,133,2108,50638,847,820],"class_list":{"0":"post-251178","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-austin","8":"tag-austin","9":"tag-austin-headlines","10":"tag-austin-news","11":"tag-mysaaustin","12":"tag-mysacrime","13":"tag-mysanews","14":"tag-mysastaff"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251178","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=251178"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251178\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/251179"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=251178"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=251178"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=251178"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}