VERO BEACH, FL — Three men who broke into a ranch at night and illegally took a 400-pound calf for butchering in 2008 now have been sentenced on criminal charges ranging from unlawful killing of cattle to trespassing, court records show.
Sentences range from three-and-a-half years in state prison to a year in county jail.
The last court sentencing was Oct. 28 when Caleb Smith, 22, of the 6400 block of 41st Street, was ordered to one year in the county jail, a year’s house arrest and probation and to pay $500 in restitution.
Previously, Anthony Strickland, 26, was sentenced to three-and-a-half years in state prison, but with credit for six months he spent in the county jail. Also, John Richmond, 19, of the 5400 block of 85th Street, Wabasso, was sentenced to two years in state prison, with credit for almost three months served in the county jail.
Strickland and Richmond got longer sentences because they had prior criminal offenses.
According to arrest reports, the three men jumped a fence at Peter Holman’s 300-acre ranch, off Fourth Street, in the early morning hours. Smith shot the calf with a .22-caliber rifle without awakening Holman, who at home 200 yards away.
After gutting the animal, they dragged it off through a hole they broke in a wooden fence and loaded it in a pickup truck. Then they drove off to butcher it at Smith’s house.
Deputies were able to follow a blood trail, to Smith’s home, after Holman found the calf’s entrails later that morning, reports show.
Blood dripped off the back of the truck when it pulled out at intersections during the five-mile trip.
Holman said he thinks his ranch was picked at random. He is pleased with the sentences, yet said Smith should have gotten a longer jail term.
