BATON ROUGE – The Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry Brand Commission arrested a Rapides Parish man accused of stealing four head of cattle and one horse from a public livestock barn in Avoyelles Parish.
According to investigators, Joel Dunn, 48, allegedly purchased the five head of livestock in October of 2019 and left the market without making proper payment.
Agriculture and Forestry Commissioner Mike Strain, D.V.M., said, “State law protects our livestock markets from persons not complying with proper payment for livestock. When the suspect did not return the livestock he did not pay for, it became a crime. As always, our brand investigators take these criminal acts seriously.”
Dunn is charged with two counts of theft of livestock for each date in which the crimes were allegedly committed. The stolen livestock is valued at approximately $2,000. At this time, the livestock have not been recovered.
The Livestock Brand Commission was assisted in this investigation by the Abbeville Police Department and the Vermillion Parish Sheriff’s Department.