LARNED — Two Larned men have been summoned to appear in Pawnee County District Court on March 3, according to the Pawnee County Attorney’s Office.

Pawnee County Attorney Douglas McNett said Monday that Reuben Lopez-Lupercio, 44, and Azel Gomez-Saldana, 21, both of Larned, have been charged with felony cattle theft in the amount of more than $1,500 but less than $25,000 in connection with an incident reported Dec. 10, 2021.

Both men were arrested by the Pawnee County Sheriff’s Office the morning of Jan. 7 at Mull Feeders in Pawnee County without incident, as the result of a cooperative investigation with the Kansas Livestock/Brand Investigation Unit.

The state unit (a joint effort between the Department of Agriculture and the Kansas Attorney General’s Office) had been alerted to suspicious activity on Dec. 10, 2021, when officials at La Crosse Livestock Market reported an individual had brought a load of cattle in for sale on Dec. 9, then bought them back the next day.

PCSO/state investigators were led to Mull Farms when it was learned that 11 heifers had been involved in the transaction, McNett said. 

Identifying a cattle trailer and other details led PCSO to obtain warrants for the two men employed by Mull Feeders at the time of the theft, Sheriff Scott King said.

Both men were bonded from custody following their booking into Pawnee County Jail, McNett noted.