Two Arrested in Multi-County Livestock Theft Investigation

Jul 03, 2026

A multi-county investigation by Texas & Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association Special Rangers resulted in the arrest of two individuals accused of using hot checks to fraudulently purchase more than $30,000 in livestock from eight auction markets across Central and Southeast Texas.

Janay Monique Smith, 45, of Pattison, was arrested May 27 by the Waller County Sheriff’s Office on three theft of livestock warrants obtained during the investigation. She surrendered June 29 to the Jasper County Jail on an additional theft of livestock warrant.

Douglas James Smith, 59, of Pattison, was arrested June 23 by the Lake Jackson Police Department with assistance from the Waller County Sheriff’s Office after authorities made several attempts to locate him.

Both are charged with multiple counts of theft of livestock, a third-degree felony

Texas & Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association Special Rangers Mike Boone, Nathan Hale, Kenny Murchison, Chace Fryar, Brent Mast and Todd Jennings launched the investigation after receiving reports of livestock purchased with hot checks at area auction markets. Special rangers compared cases across multiple jurisdictions and identified a pattern linking the fraudulent purchases to the two suspects.

The investigation is ongoing.

TSCRA thanks the Waller County Sheriff’s Office and the Lake Jackson Police Department for their assistance throughout the investigation.

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Video: Learning to Wrench From Dad the Hard Way

Harvest is a week out and the farm picked this week to fall apart. The truck needs a battery, the barn curtain's got a problem, and the corn and beans are telling us we're out of time to get it all fixed.

So it's a full day of wrenching. Tork supervises while I get the truck back running, then we're out at the hog barn where one rusted up part has the whole curtain system hung up. Ladder work, cable work, and a little dad-and-son disagreement about the right way to do it. We close it out walking the fields, shelling beans and checking corn, because whether everything's fixed or not, harvest starts when harvest starts.

Chapters: 00:00 Everything breaks the week before harvest 01:00 Tork supervises while I fix the truck 12:30 Out to the barn to find the curtain problem 14:30 One rusty part hung up the whole curtain 20:00 Running the curtain cable from the ladder 24:00 Walking the beans and corn before harvest 26:30 Wrapping up

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