On Sunday, September 6th, the Navarro County Sheriff's Office received a report of a missing paint horse near SE CR 3240 south of Kerens.

Deputy Bates, being aware of the recent horse thefts in that same area and where a suspect had been arrested, took the initiative and started doing some checking. Deputy Bates knew there was another horse the same suspect in the previous thefts had sold prior to the stealing of the other three horses that were recently recovered in Bryan, Texas.

Deputy Bates contacted the horse buyer in Bryan, asked would he look at the missing horses picture where he then confirmed that yes it was the horse he bought from our suspect on August 22nd.

Unfortunately the buyer advised he no longer had the horse as he had sold it to an auction house in Texas. Deputy Bates made contact with the owner of the auction house, was advised they sold the horse on September 2nd to a subject in Odessa, Texas and the horse had shipped out on September 5th.

As a result, with the assistance of all parties involved, Deputy Bates was able to make contact with the buyer of the horse in Odessa and was given the current location of the paint horse. I am pleased to say that at this time, the horse is safe and the owner here in Navarro County is making arrangements to go pick up their paint horse.

The suspect who remains in custody on previous charges
at the Navarro County Justice Center, will receive an additional charge of theft of livestock.

With the combined efforts and hard work of all those associated with the past case which led to this current case being solved, especially with the amount of time that has passed, we were able once again to locate the horse and it be reunited with its owner.

I am very proud of all those involved these last weeks putting in the time, effort and care to get these horses back to their owners safely.
 
Sheriff Elmer Tanner