Al Kay, a McMullen County rancher living in the San Antonio area, received a call on Saturday (Oct. 24) morning from his ranch hand, advising him another rancher named Ted True had allegedly hired a helicopter to round up Kay’s cattle and took them to the auction barn in Live Oak County.

Kay said, “When I heard about it, I called the sheriff’s office to stop the sale until I could get there. Charlie Vanek, one of my ranch hands, and I identified the cattle but they would not readily release them.”

Ted True, the man who allegedly took Kay’s cattle to the auction barn, said via a telephone interview that he had “gone to get his own cattle.” When questioned if he had any of Kay’s cattle, he said, “Some may have got mixed up with his own.”

An adjacent neighbor, William Brumley, said a few weeks ago Kay’s ranch hand (Vanek) contacted him and told him some of cattle had wandered onto Kay’s property. He said Vanek told him they would get the cattle back to Brumley when they “work cattle” in a few weeks. Brumley went on to say, “We help each other out here and I knew I would get my cattle back from Kay’s ranch.”

True allegedly hired a man from Three Rivers who uses a helicopter to round up cattle. According to Kay, True allegedly opened up his (Kay’s) gate and moved Kay’s cattle as well as a cow and calf that belonged to Brumley to his own ranch and then allegedly took them to the auction barn.

Brumley said, “My cattle have brands and I was able to identify mine. I sent a hand to get them and True wouldn’t give them back until I paid him $200. He said $200 was what I owed him as my portion of the helicopter. I didn’t ask him to bring back my cattle or to fly over my ranch and he wanted me to pay $200 for my own cattle. The next day I sent a hand with a $200 check to get back my cattle.”

Law enforcement officials allegedly instructed Brumley to put a “stop payment’ on the check as True may be charged with felony theft of cattle. Brumley said, “I have never put a stop payment on a check; I had to have someone walk me through the steps.”

According to the sheriff’s complaint log, when Kay contacted True about his cattle, True allegedly said he thought he had taken “someone else’s cows” and that Kay now owed him $1,800 for the use of the helicopter to gather the cattle. When questioned by The Progress, True said, “That’s a lie; I did not say that.”

Kay eventually retrieved his cattle at the auction barn. “I’m still missing a few head of cattle, but I got the majority of them back,” Kay said.

McMullen County Sheriff Bruce Thomas said he was not at liberty to disclose if True will be charged with theft of cattle as the case is still under investigation. He did say Texas and Southwest Cattle Raisers Association Special Rangers Sonny Seewald and Hap Roberts were involved in the investigation. Neither Seewald nor Roberts returned calls to The Progress.