Joey Raydale Dickey, 44, of Decatur, was sentenced Monday to 10 years in prison after pleading guilty to theft of property valued at $150,000 to $300,000. The second-degree felony carried a possible sentence of two to 20 years, and 271st District Judge Brock Smith imposed the sentence in Decatur, according to the Wise County Messenger.
What the investigation alleges
Dickey’s plea establishes his conviction for the theft charge; the broader account of the cattle operation comes from investigators and reporting about the case. Authorities said 82 cattle, valued at more than $150,000, were taken in a series of incidents spanning four counties in Texas and Oklahoma. The Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association said its investigation began in June 2024 and linked the cases as one criminal enterprise involving six ranches and a sale barn. The association’s account is available in its case announcement.
The Wise County Messenger reported that investigators attributed 70 of the cattle to seven Wise County victims during 2024 and said at least six additional local owners reported thefts that year. The newspaper’s account, based in part on the arrest affidavit, described the use of sale records, cattle brands, surveillance footage and delivery information to connect reported thefts with later transactions. Those details are investigative allegations, not additional facts Dickey was shown to have admitted in the plea.
Related sentence and case status
Brian Edward Tribble of Decatur previously pleaded guilty in the case and received a five-year sentence in June, according to the Wise County Messenger. Dickey and Tribble were arrested in March 2025 after the investigation. A third man was also arrested, but the newspaper reported that no criminal charges had been filed against him in Wise County.
