Maude court date: April 29
The court has set a new date for the Western South Dakota ranch couple charged with theft of federal property.
Charles Maude and Heather Maude were granted a 90-day continuance and their new trial date is April 29, 2025.
As of now, the jury trial will begin at 9 am Mountain Time, at federal district court in Rapid City, South Dakota, barring any updates or a dismissal.
Charles and Heather Maude were indicted separately for theft of federal property valued at over $1,000. Because they were both indicted, they must maintain separate legal counsel. Based on the charges, each of them faces potentially up to 10 years in prison and up to a $250,000 fine.
Nearly every ag organization in the state, all three major national cattle and beef organizations and a multitude of local groups such as county commissions, fire departments and more have shown strong support for the Maude couple.
South Dakota Stockgrowers Association Executive Director Doris Lauing said her group has backed the Maudes since they first heard about the indictment.
Her group wrote a letter to the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, Tom Vilsack, asking him to work on a quick resolution to the problem. Lauing said her organization plans to contact Brook Rollins, President elect – Trump’s nomination for Secretary of Agriculture if and when she is confirmed.
“We are going to continue to stand behind and support the Maudes as this case unfolds,” she said.
“With the new administration, we look forward to a different perspective. We hope they can see what needs to be done to rectify this not only for the Maude family but for anyone who rents or owns land. It’s a matter of principle. They’ve never been told they were doing anything wrong, it’s just crazy that they were indicted out of the blue when they have a standing grazing agreement with the USFS,” said Lauing.
In December of 2024, Senator Rounds introduced the Fenceline Fairness Act, to create a formal mediation process for land boundary disputes between landowners and the United States Forest Service (USFS).
Congresswoman Harriet Hageman introduced the Protecting Agricultural Spaces Through Effective Ranching Strategies (PASTURES) Act which will safeguard landowners with property adjacent to federally leased land from federal enforcement actions related to livestock trespassing.
“My bill will prohibit federal land management agencies from enforcing a trespass after permits or leases are adjusted or rescinded – until the relevant land management agency constructs a fence to keep the livestock out,” Hageman said in a news release.
In earlier TSLN stories, neighbor and former South Dakota Stockgrowers Association president Scott Edoff explained that the Maude family has grazed cattle on private and federal land including National Grasslands for over 100 years.
Rounds said the following is his understanding of the Maudes’ interaction with the USFS:
- March 29, 2024 – The Maudes were notified of a complaint received by USDA saying a fence between their property and adjacent Buffalo Gap National Grasslands property blocked access to Buffalo Gap National Grasslands.
- May 1, 2024 – The Maudes met with USFS District Ranger Julie Wheeler to discuss a boundary discrepancy regarding the fenceline. USFS special agent Travis Lunders was also present. The USFS and Maudes agreed a survey should be completed, which could take up to a year, but following the survey completion there were three possible administrative steps that could be taken.
- May 6, 2024 – Special Agent Lunders escorted a crew to perform a survey of the land. The Maudes did not participate in the survey and have not received survey results.
- June 24, 2024 – The Maudes were summoned to appear in U.S. District Court, having been indicted for theft of government property.
The land that Edoff believes to be at issue consists of a parcel of National Grasslands operated by the Maude family since the early 1900s.
“Charles’ great grandfather had an irrigation ditch for about a mile crossing that property. They allowed him to put that ditch in and irrigate that bottom,” said Edoff.
Edoff told TSLN that some of the Maudes’ private land has been fenced in with National Grasslands property and managed by that agency for decades.
The Maudes have signed grazing agreements with the U.S. Forest Service National Grasslands allotments since the Forest Service came into existence, Edoff said, and the USFS has never indicated that there was a concern with the management of the land.
