Arena Tracks: Stolen Sugar Part II

Fifteen year old Gale Beebe couldn’t sleep.  The family’s pick-up camper was typical of those used in the 1970s: a compact little space with room for her folks over the roof of the cab and Gale folded into the dinette.  It was cozy, if a little hot in Longmont, Colorado, that July evening in 1979, but that’s not what was keeping Gale awake.  Call it a premonition, women’s intuition or the over active imagination of a teenage girl.  Call it whatever you like, but Gale was certain her horse Sugarbaby was going to be stolen.  The thought sat there in the pit of her stomach for over a month.  It sat there while everyone around her brushed her off and rolled their eyes. It sat there because Gale just KNEW.  A couple weeks later people stopped rolling their eyes because Gale Beebe’s premonition came true.  Someone stole Gale’s horse.

After leaving the North Dakota State Fairgrounds in Fargo on August 5, 1979 without her great mare, Sugarbaby, Gale put her head down and got to work.  She needed to make T-Bone, her breakaway horse, into a competitive barrel and pole horse before the Little Britches Finals. The old boy was getting a crash course and the training was keeping Gale’s mind and body busy.  The Cass County Sheriff’s department and the FBI were also keeping themselves busy, though not yet aware that they were working the same case. 

On August 10, nearly two weeks after Sugarbaby and Misty (the pole horse owned by Tammy Dienlien from New Mexico) had gone missing, there was a break in the case.  A horse trailer was found in Trenton, New Jersey and the state police believed it had been stolen.  Though the tell-tale blue and white paint had been replaced with black and silver and the serial number altered, the detectives were able to link it to the stolen trailer from Fergus Falls, Minnesota.  Fergus Falls lies in Otter Tail County, but the sheriff and his deputies were well versed in the crime as their county had been the scene of the trailer swap for two horses stolen from the 1979 NHSRF.  They forwarded the info to the Cass County Sheriff’s department in Fargo who immediately sent off the detailed descriptions and drawings of the missing horses they believed had been transported in that trailer.  Thankfully, both horses had identifying marks, with Sugarbaby carrying a Lazy Cross L on her left shoulder and Misty having a natural heart shape in the same spot, making them easier to identify.  The Trenton police hadn’t found the horses just yet, but they knew they were on to something and, given the fact these thieves had crossed state lines with over $35,000 worth of merchandise, brought in the FBI.  

The FBI was no stranger to what they believed to be a very organized and extensive theft ring.  They theorized there was a network of thieves working their way across the country, headed to the east coast from the northwest corner of the United States.  These were stone cold criminals, not phased in the slightest with the theft of two horses, a couple horse trailers and a pickup.  Heaven only knew what else they may have picked up along the way.  

A couple days after the discovery of the stolen horse trailer, in the early morning hours of August 12 the phone rang in the Deinlein’s New Mexico home.  Bill Deinlein suspected what we all do; that a phone call that early is either really good or really bad news.  This time they finally had some great news:  Misty, Tammy’s red roan pole mare, had been FOUND.  One of the state troopers that had helped with the case had a small acreage and offered to put Misty up until the Deinleins could make the 31 hour trip from Bloomfield, New Mexico, to Trenton, New Jersey.  Bill mobilized the rest of his family, gathering pick-up and trailer, while making sure the components to their rig could withstand a nearly 65 hour round-trip adventure.  However, before they could put rubber to road, Bill Deinlein received another phone call.  Sometime in the night, Misty had been RE-STOLEN from the state trooper’s home along with a few bulls they picked up as long as they were in the area.  These criminals were brazen and there was still no sign of Sugar.

While my vision of New Jersey doesn’t include a strong cowboy culture, there is definitely one in place.  Horse shows and gymkhanas, trail riding and rodeos all have a place in the Garden State.  One of those New Jersey horse owners was eager to show off her new horse, purchased for $2500.  She liked the look of the little mare and she was FAST.  Entering their first competition, they blew the rest of the field away.  In fact, they won by such a landslide, people started to talk.  One of those people was the wife of a local police officer.  Something about that new horse was tickling her in the back of her brain, but she couldn’t put her finger on what.  Upon returning home, she told her husband about the day’s results, ending by commenting about the new horse in the area.  The police officer went to his patrol car and brought back a flyer that had been circulated at work.  Showing it to his wife, she excitedly told him she had seen the horse on the left side of the flyer.  Grabbing the phone, the officer mobilized the area law enforcement agencies.  They gathered the information about the horse and her new owner, set the red and blue lights on swivel and headed to her barn.

The woman was, of course, shocked to be confronted by a thick blue line of law enforcement officers demanding to see her new horse.  The horse was new, yes, but she had paid for her fair and square.  Realizing she had no choice, she reluctantly took them to the barn. There, alive, well and completely oblivious, was Sugarbaby.  While still arguing her ownership, the woman had no choice but to relinquish possession of the mare.  This time the FBI pulled out all the stops to protect Sugar so they didn’t experience the “re-theft” incident they’d faced with Missy.  Sugarbaby was taken to a secure location and kept under 24 hour armed guard until the Beebes could come to identify and claim their horse.  

It was now 18 days since Sugarbaby had last been under Gale’s saddle and she couldn’t help but worry about her companion as the unknown is a painful and scary place.  The phone calls had slowed to a trickle and as the acceptance of the inevitable sunk in, no one jumped and ran to answer them any longer.  When the phone rang on a warm Sunday morning, August 19, 1979, it was Gale’s mother that picked it up and answered.  Her “Hello?” was followed quickly by an urgent and loud “Tom!!”  Once on the line, Tom Beebe found he was speaking to Sheriff Arland Rasmussen from Cass County in North Dakota who had just gotten off the phone with Detective Jack Caldwell of the Trenton, New Jersey, police department.  Sugarbaby had been found.  Tom told him they’d hook up the trailer and head east immediately.  Explaining they didn’t have time to drive, Rasmussen told them to fly.  A pickup could be purchased once they got there and they could use the stolen trailer from Fergus Falls, Minnesota, to get her back home.  Then they could do the police department a favor and deliver the trailer back to ITS rightful owners.  Ah, the 1970s: a time when civilians carried out official police business and hauled stolen merchandise across state lines.

Tom and Gale asked their farrier, Ed Ramsey, to accompany them to New Jersey to assess any damage done to Sugar’s feet and limbs.  Late in the evening of August 21, 1979, the trio was met at the Trenton, New Jersey airport by Fargo law enforcement officers, Sheriff Rasmussen and Chief Deputy James Thoreson.  Together, the five-some from the Dakotas was escorted to their hotel by two armed New Jersey state troopers.  The troopers stayed on point outside their rooms throughout the night.  The next morning, they met with Detective Caldwell at a police  impound lot where they were given a tour of some of the other items that had been recovered from the burglary ring. This included tractors, furniture, artwork, jewelry, the aforementioned bulls and a couple of ambulances.  These were some brazen and highly organized criminals that were only a part of a much bigger criminal enterprise.  To emphasize how lethal this group was believed to be, all the police officers were wearing bullet proof vests.  The Beebes, however, were not.

The motorcade made their way to the stable at which Sugarbaby was being held under 24 hour armed guard.  Once in the barn, Gale had to ask, “Where is my horse?”  There, in a stall, hip cocked, ears flopped off to either side, was Sugarbaby.  While they forced Gale to wait until Ed had cleared her feet and legs, she gleefully jumped on the mare bareback and loped her across the adjacent open field with just a halter.  With the horse claimed, Tom set to work finding a pickup to buy.  They then hooked up to the stolen and repainted trailer and headed west with an armed escort, stopping for one overnight stay where Sugar’s 24 hour armed surveillance continued.  It was only when they reached the South Dakota border that their escorts continued on to North Dakota and the Beebes were once again alone with their horse.

While they were overjoyed at the return of Sugar, they still mourned the fact that Tammy Deinlein still did not have her horse Misty back.  Tammy, much like Gale, had gotten on with her life and began college while still worrying about her mare.  On November 4, 1979, over three months since her theft, Misty magically appeared in a pasture near West Trenton, New Jersey.  Just to keep things interesting, the thieves had also left a dozen Brahma bulls in the same pasture.  Misty was thin but safe and the Deinleins underwent a similar experience getting her home.  

If ever a story had it all, this would be it: fast horses, pretty girls, a crime syndicate, cross country travel and most importantly, a happy ending.  Sugarbaby took Gale to many more wins, including placing in the second go of the 1980 NHSRF at which she was allowed to park her camper right by the stall barns so she could keep an eye on her partner.  Gale never sold Sugarbaby, who is buried on her family’s ranch along with four of Gale’s other great horses.  I guess she just couldn’t bear the thought of losing her ever again.