In May of 2007, Lonnie Utah Littles, 62, took out a loan of $105,000 on the cattle farm he owned with his wife, Christian County Assessor Sandra Bryant-Littles. He listed the Poco Cala Ranch, including the cattle that lived there, as collateral for the loan, agreeing that he was prohibited from selling or transferring the collateral without consent from the bank.

That agreement was put out to pasture pretty quickly, as the Clever resident not-so-cleverly sold or otherwise disposed of at least 63 head of cattle between September 2008 and February 2009 without notifying the bank. At that point, the cattle farm was faced with foreclosure, and the bank was threatening to take the farm (cows and all) to collect on the $104,956.50 owed.

Although the situation seemed utterly overwhelming, Littles wasn't going to be cowed. He informed his employee, 57-year-old Jesse Rice, that the bank was going to conduct an inspection of the cattle, and suggested that they might report some of the cattle stolen in order to collect an insurance settlement. Rice was herded into the scheme on the assumption that the money that the Littles' owed him would be paid out of the settlement.