A Richardton man has received a two-year deferred sentence in Yellowstone County, Mont., after earlier pleading no contest to separate charges of theft and taking livestock from the state without inspection.
District Judge Gregory Todd sentenced Willard Schank, 55, Monday in Billings, Mont., on the two felony charges involving the taking of a breeding bull called the "Robby Bull." The bull was reported missing May 6, 2006, from the Genex Hawkeye Bull Test Station west of Billings. It was later located at Schank's ranch near Richardton.
At one time, bull co-owner Johnny Berger stated the bull had a value of $150,000, but the court did not establish a value for the bull.
The plea agreement reached by Schank also required him to pay $1,068 in restitution to cover the cost of shipping the bull from his ranch back to Montana. Todd also ordered Schank to have no contact with his former business partners or their families.
When reached at his Richardton ranch Wednesday for comment on the case's ending, Schank said, "When the North Dakota brand inspectors came to my place in the very beginning, I gave them a bill of sale and a canceled check that I bought the bull for $3,000. I said to the brand inspectors I'm not sure how the bull got to my place. They found him in my pasture behind my house with my other herd bulls. I was not hiding Robby."
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Schank also said he told the North Dakota brand inspectors when they were at his ranch, "I can't believe how someone could go into Genetics Hawkeye West bull stud and take a bull. What about security? (West River Brand Inspector) Blaine Northrup writes up in the report that I can't believe how easy it is to go into Genetics Bull Test and take a bull. He's saying I said that and I didn't."
Schank also questions the timeline of the events in the case.
"Robby the bull was taken the night of May 5. I have a lock-tight paper trail where I was from the morning of May 5 and after. I cannot even understand why I was arrested in the first place."
Regarding the actual sentencing, Schank said, "Being the bull was on my place, I never had a problem of paying the cost of getting Robby, my bull, back to Montana."
He also said receiving a deferred sentence means the matter would be wiped off his record after following the court's orders.
"I would like to thank the state's attorneys and the judges out in Yellowstone County for the professional way they treated me. I believe our legal system is the best in the world," Schank said.
"The weak link in this whole case in my opinion was the investigating officers - West River Brand Inspector Blaine Northrup and Chief Brand Inspector Darryl Howard," he added. "I really believe this whole mess could have been stopped if the North Dakota brand inspectors would have disclosed the bill of sale and the canceled check for $3,000 that I gave them."
