Tummons pleads guilty to felonious cattle theft, gets probation in plea

A Bois D’Arc man avoided prison time when he pleaded guilty to cattle theft in the Greene County Circuit Court in exchange for probation. According to court documents, Joseph Tummons entered the plea on Tuesday, March 3; in exchange, he will receive five years of supervised probation. Another charge of branding the animal of another person was dismissed. Cattle theft is a class D felony in the state of Missouri, while branding the animal of another person is an unclassified felony.
According to a probable cause statement in the case, Tummons’ neighbor contacted the Greene County Sheriff’s Department on Jan. 18, 2019 and said he’d located six head of cattle he’d been missing since Dec. 31, 2018. They were found with Tummons’ cattle on two properties Tummons
was renting.     
   The cattle had been retagged and rebranded with Tummons’ registered brand.
In a post Miranda interview, Tummons admitted that he could see the other brand and knew the calves weren’t his. He also admitted to branding the calves with his brand.
The deputy arrested Tummons the day after the interview for felony stealing of livestock and booked him into the Greene County Jail; Tummons was later released. Tummons will be formally sentenced on Thursday, May 14.