A Mount Airy, North Carolina man entered a guilty plea to a conspiracy charge linked to an elaborate $1 million cattle theft operation, federal prosecutors announced. William Dalton Edwards, 25, has been embroiled in a fraud that spanned over four years, a scheme stealing over 3,000 head of cattle from different states and causing significant losses to family-owned livestock markets.
At the crux of this conspiracy, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, was the use of bad checks written with full knowledge of insufficient funds, enabling Edwards and an accomplice to abscond with the animals before the sales barns could catch on. The livestock was taken across state lines, predominantly to Texas and Oklahoma, where the cattle were sold off. The understood, yet perhaps unintended, victims were the sales barns, obligated to pay the farmers upfront, fell into losses totaling more than $1 million, more than just a number, it's the livelihood of the agricultural heart of America.
Edwards' transgressions involved compromising federally insured financial institutions, through false representations and essentially, running a transport network for stolen goods across state borders. The conspiracy’s intent was to obstruct the Packers and Stockyard Division of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, a body ensuring fair play within livestock markets. "One of the objects of the charged conspiracy was to hamper and impede the Packers and Stockyard Division of the U.S. Department of Agriculture in its regulation of fair livestock markets," the U.S. Attorney’s Office clarified, detailing the craft and guile behind Edwards' dealings.
As it stands, the guilty charge could land Edwards a maximum of five years behind bars, not to mention potential restitution or fines upon sentencing. While a date for sentencing is not yet carved into the docket, Edwards remains out on bond. The case was brought to light thanks to the collaborative efforts of multiple agencies, including the USDA-OIG, the Secret Service, IRS-CI, and both Cleveland and Iredell County Sheriff’s Offices, a demonstration, of the interconnected web that upholds the justice we so often take as a given. U.S. Attorney Dena J. King, alongside the investigating teams, received appreciation for their unwavering efforts to untangle this scheme. Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael E. Savage from the Charlotte office is handling the prosecution of the case.
