Guilty was the plea made by rodeo bull smuggler and stock contractor Greg Kesler when he appeared before United States District Court judge Donald Malloy in Missoula, Montana July 27.
Kesler, a well-known stock contractor for Canadian and U.S. rodeos, was charged earlier in the year with smuggling rodeo bulls from Canada to the U.S. despite a prohibition on live ruminant exports to that country. The ban was a result of BSE being found in Canada.
Idaho brand inspectors, Montana livestock authorities, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the American Homeland Security departments all became involved in an investigation of Kesler.
Read Also
StatCan stands by its model-based crop forecast
Statistics Canada’s model-based production estimates are under scrutiny, but agency says it is confident in the results.
According to Montana district attorney Bill Mercer, whose office prosecuted the case, Kesler was telephoned by investigators and denied the charges.
He later called back asking to meet.
During that meeting he confessed that he had smuggled 23 rodeo bulls from Canada to the U.S. June 23, 2003, by including the animals in a load of rodeo horses.
“When he stopped at the inspection station at the Port of Del Bonita in southwestern Alberta, where he was well-known by inspectors, Kesler asserted the entire load was horses and neglected to mention the bulls,” said a statement from Mercer’s office.
Inspections of Kesler’s Helena, Montana ranch resulted in the quarantine of the 23 animals. Rumours that even more Canadian animals were showing up at U.S. rodeos in 2004 sent investigators back to Kesler. He then admitted to smuggling a second load of six bulls on Jan. 8.
Kesler is scheduled to be sentenced Nov. 5 on charges that carry maximum penalties of five years in prison, a $250,000 US fine and three years of supervised release.
Kesler was released on his own recognizance until the sentencing hearing.
