An 18-year-old who authorities said was involved in horse thefts at Southern Arkansas University at Magnolia pleaded guilty Tuesday to stealing cattle near Ogden in southwest Arkansas.
George Berish III appeared Tuesday before Circuit Judge Charles Yeargan in Ashdown and changed his plea to guilty in the cattle-theft case.
Berish was sentenced to 10 years in prison, with two years suspended. He had been arrested in Little River County.
He stole 15 black heifers valued at $10,500 from a ranch owned by Kenneth Matheson, according to an arrest affidavit prepared by Arkansas State Police Special Agent Hays McWhirter.
Also charged was Wendi Nicole Cox, 38, of McCurtain County, Okla.
Cox was to have a pretrial hearing this week, but her court appearance was delayed until Jan. 8. She is represented by attorney John Stroud. Berish was represented by Garnett Norwood.
Little River County Deputy Brian Tribble filed a report Oct. 26, 2011, about the theft. In it Matheson said he left his property Oct. 25, 2011, and had locked the gate. When he returned the next day, the gate was open, the lock was gone and his cattle were missing.
In June of this year, law-enforcement agencies received a tip that the cattle had been sold at the Idabel Stockyards in Idabel, Okla., by William Webster “Billy” Hamilton, 38, and Berish, according to official reports.
Hamilton has been arrested in a case. He is in jail in Magnolia also facing charges in the November 3, 2011, theft of horses from the SAU stables.
Hamilton and Cox are charged with felony countsof cruelty to animals and possession of stolen property in the horse-theft case.
Berish also faces six felony charges in the theft of the horses, tack and a trailer. The value of the horses and equipment was listed at $200,000. No trial dates have been scheduled in the horse thefts.
The cattle-thefts investigation advanced after Mc-Curtain County sheriff’s office investigator Whit Kent obtained copies of a check issued to Berish for $4,139.09 for the sale of seven heifers at the stockyards, according to reports. Kent also obtained a check issued to Hamilton for $4,587.10 as payment for eight heifers, reports state.
McWhirter interviewed Hamilton on July 3. According to the affidavit, Hamilton admitted to helping steal the cows and selling them.
According to the affidavit, Hamilton said that after he received a call from Berish about the location of the cows, Hamilton called Cox, his girlfriend at the time. Cox and another youth met Hamilton in Haworth, Okla., and rode with him to Ashdown to pick up Berish, the affidavit says. All four then traveled to Ogden to get the cows and haul them to the Idabel sale barn, the affidavit says.
Berish remains in the Bowie County jail in Texarkana awaiting transport to an Arkansas prison.
Cox is the mother of Jacie Jackson, who was arrested Dec. 5, 2011, on six charges in the theft of the SAU horses, a trailer and equipment.
Four of the horses were found in a clear-cut field in McCurtain County, Okla. The animals were malnourished and dehydrated. The fifth horse, Credit Card, was found dead Nov. 25 near Haworth, according to reports. The horse was valued at $20,000.
Northwest Arkansas, Pages 10 on 11/17/2012