For the Maudes: South Dakota legislators, more gather to call for dismissal of Charles and Heather Maude case

South Dakota District 27 Representative Liz May invited her fellow legislators to the Scenic Fire Hall on Palm Sunday, April 13, 2025, to learn more about the Charles Maude and Heather Maude indictment.

May, a rancher and grocery store owner/manager from Kyle, said many more legislators voiced support but were unable to join the 15 from across the state who met with neighbors and family of the Maudes.

Tom and Randi Hamilton parents of Heather (Hamilton) Maude along with Marion and Jackie Maude, parents of Charles Maude showed legislators, neighbors and select media the physical location of the acreage believed to be in question in the federal indictment accusing the young ranching couple of “stealing” federal property. Charles and Heather’s children Lyle and Kennedy joined their grandparents.

“This gate was where this issue started,” said Hamilton, pointing to the west. “With the no trespassing sign. The alleged hunter reported that to the Forest Service who said the gate wasn’t on the line.”

“The guy that observed that, Travis Lunders, meandered on down the hill, trespassed onto Charles and Heather’s property and observed the pivot…and in that process, he discovered it was actually watering some Forest Service acreage out there. And met with Charles and Heather and asked them to come to the Forest Service office, which they did. They took the trespass sign down the very next day. They met with the ranger, Julie Wheeler and in the course of that conversation, Julie informed them they would need to have a survey which could take several months, up to a year. In the week or two weeks that followed, Mr. Lunders wrangled him a survey crew, went down…trespassed across their property again, surveyed a line, put rocks and stakes and such.

“Charles and Heather were never served a trespass or any notification of doing wrong. And the next thing they knew, Charles and Heather were indicted for theft of federal property,” said Tom.

The group was able to see the land in question and the fence that has remained unchanged since the 1950s that the USFS appears to allege is not on the property boundary.

Fenceline neighbor Scott Edoff has told TSLN that Charles and Heather Maude’s USFS grazing agreement for the Buffalo Gap National Grasslands remains in good standing today. “The government has never notified them of a violation or infraction of their grazing agreement,” he said. Their winter 2024-25 grazing agreement was renewed as normal.

USFS Ranger Julie Wheeler based in Hot Springs oversees the south unit of the Buffalo Gap National Grasslands. Neither she nor her superior, Jack Isaacs of the Chadron office, responded to multiple e-mailed questions from TSLN.

In a Capital Press story last summer, the USFS said it is following “normal operating procedures for lands trespass situations” and that it was “unable to resolve the matter through administrative means.”

Senator Rounds (R-S.D.), in a 2024 letter to then U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, states that the USFS and Maudes discussed that a survey would be completed, and following that, the USFS would proceed with one of three administrative steps discussed in the meeting.

But instead, Charles and Heather were blindsided with a felony indictment about six weeks later.

Wheeler has not responded to TSLN’s questions about exactly how the administrative process was “exhausted.”

R-CALF USA Property Rights chairman Shad Sullivan at the Scenic gathering, said “I know the legislators in South Dakota better than I know the ones in Texas now,” he said. “I have great faith that Brooke Rollins is a great person and probably the most personable Secretary of Agriculture we’ve ever had. She needs to focus on independent producers…farmers and ranchers across the nation. This case today here that you’ve witnessed and they’ve gone through is the prominent case of property rights and agriculture issues in the nation today and I think it’s got to be remedied right now.”

South Dakota Speaker of the House Jon Hansen, a Republican attorney from Dell Rapids attended the pasture viewing.

“It’s hard to believe it has come to this,” Hansen said. “The Maudes have been working that land for generations. This looks like an overzealous reaction by whoever was involved.”

As a member of the South Dakota House of Representatives, Hansen has supported legislation to defend property owners against Summit Carbon Solutions, a carbon sequestration pipeline company seeking a route through the east side of the state.

Hansen said this mimics the carbon pipeline discussion in the aspect that “people’s private property rights are under siege.”

“You’ve got Summit Carbon Solutions…it’s pretty well known at this point the lengths they were willing to go to, to use people’s land without consent. And in this case, you’ve got the Maude family who have been working this land for decades and now all of the sudden the feds come in and say, ‘you’ve committed theft of federal property.’ To me, the similarities are in standing up for the people of this state and their right to use the land that they’ve been using for decades. Whether it’s federal overreach or corporate overreach, there are a lot of people in this state who are standing up to it,” he said.

As for a solution, Hansen said the charges need to be dismissed and the individuals involved brought back to the negotiating table. “There are options to resolve this civilly,” he said.

May addressed neighbors and legislators at the fire hall.

“I just can’t…I won’t cry…but thank you so much for making the effort,” she said to the legislators in the room.

To the audience, May said, “we want you to know that, it’s not just us…there are several others that are on board. Give us ideas of where you want to go with this. I personally have some pretty good ideas.”

The U.S. attorney who signed the summons, Alison J. Ramsdell, a Biden-appointee, is expected to soon be replaced by Ron Parsons, who served under the first Trump administration. He awaits Senate approval, but Hansen said he expects that to take place without issue.

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi could also play a role in dropping the charges, as could the U.S. Forest Service oversight agency, the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Many industry spokesman are calling on USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins to step in and call for a dismissal.

Neither South Dakota Governor Larry Rhoden nor South Dakota Secretary of Agriculture and Natural Resources Hunter Roberts responded to e-mailed questions from TSLN on this issue. Hansen said he is not aware of either of them making a public statement on this situation, but that he would be happy to sit down with them and ask them to “join us in helping contact our federal delegation to work with them on a request that the charges be dropped.”

“We have a large circle of people who are going to work this really hard,” said May.

“It takes everybody. It doesn’t take just legislators, senators, it takes a family. The ranching community is a family and we’re just trying to keep our industry alive.”