Two Bennett County ranchers were taken directly from a courtroom to a jail cell in a case involving cattle mistreatment, false branding, and the attempted sale of animals they did not own.
Leland Pauly, 60, and his longtime girlfriend Lynda Frost, 56, were taken to jail on Thursday to begin serving 15-day jail sentences on charges that they mistreated numerous cattle on their ranch 10 miles east of Martin.
The case came to light after Dan Schilling, a rancher from Wessington, hired Pauly and Frost to feed and care for his cattle on their Bennett County ranch. In March 2024, after discovering his cattle in poor condition, Schilling filed a complaint with the sheriff.
That prompted investigations that resulted in numerous criminal charges against Pauly and Frost, as well as criminal convictions in South Dakota and Nebraska for livestock fraud and neglect.
Pauly is from a long-standing ranching family in Bennett County, and he and Frost are well-known in the cattle industry of central South Dakota and northern Nebraska.
The charges against them came as the couple was facing major financial difficulties, including a recent bankruptcy and the possibility of Pauly losing the land his family has owned for generations, according to Pauly’s attorney, Sandy Steffen of Gregory.
Bennett County State’s Attorney Sarah E. Harris stated that there is no excuse for animal mistreatment or economic fraud, and she hopes that the jail sentence will serve as a warning to anyone who abuses cattle or attempts to defraud others.
“I grew up on a ranch, and it makes me absolutely sick to think of how these cattle were treated,” Harris told reporters. “Hopefully other people will see this and think twice before entrusting their cattle or any livestock with these people.”
Couple faced multiple charges in two states
After Schilling filed the initial complaint, authorities in both states took notice.
In April 2024, Pauly and Frost were charged in Bennett County with 25 misdemeanor counts of animal neglect or mistreatment.
That same month, the pair was charged in Keith County, Nebraska, with illegally branding and selling Schilling’s cattle.
Then, in September, Pauly and Frost were charged in South Dakota with four felony counts of misusing or altering a cattle brand, a Class 5 offense.
According to Nebraska court records, Pauly pleaded no contest in June and was sentenced to probation on a felony charge of illegal sale, trade, or disposition of livestock. Frost was found guilty of misdemeanor charges of falsifying documents to misrepresent livestock inspection records.
Court documents in South Dakota show that between May 2023 and March 2024, the pair planned to defraud cattle buyers by “brand(ing) calves belonging to Dan Schilling with Lynda Frost’s lazy F over arrow brand.”
According to court documents, Frost’s brand cows were sold at the Ogallala Livestock Auction Market in Nebraska in March 2024, as well as the Fort Pierre Livestock Auction in South Dakota.
The South Dakota brand alteration charges were dropped as part of a plea agreement in which Pauly and Frost agreed to plead no contest to three misdemeanor animal neglect counts.
Video shows weakened cattle
In late March, the Bennett County Sheriff’s Office seized approximately 265 cattle from the Pauly ranch. Some of the animals’ skeletons were visible due to malnutrition. According to authorities, a cow and two calves died shortly after being seized.
A video played in the Bennett County Courthouse on Thursday showed a group of seven cattle with their spines, hips, and shoulder bones clearly visible. Some appeared wobbly and unsteady while walking.
Harris informed the court that her office had tested the feed fed to the cattle at the Pauly Ranch and discovered that it had no or very little nutritional value.
“It looked like it was ground up corn stalks and sticks,” Harris told News Watch in an interview. “There was no way they could gain weight on that, and it’s probably why they looked so terrible.”
Harris told the court that in the weeks after the cattle were seized and fed properly, many began to gain weight and regain good health. The cattle were eventually returned to Schilling, their owner.
Bennett County Sheriff Jason Erwin told News Watch that he has never seen a livestock neglect case like this since moving to the area in 2013.
“I’m not going to say they’re bad people,” said Erwin, a neighbor of Pauly and Frost. “But it is shocking to see that.”
Schilling told News Watch that Pauly and Frost defrauded him in a variety of ways and still owe him approximately $300,000 for cattle and feed costs that they misrepresented.
“It’s been terrible,” he explained. “And I’ve spent way too much time and money on this thing.”
When approached by News Watch in the Bennett County Courthouse prior to the hearing on Thursday, Pauly and Frost declined to comment.
Defense sought no fine or jail time
After the couple was found guilty of neglect, the defense and prosecution made recommendations to Circuit Court Judge Bobbi Rank regarding sentencing.
Harris, the prosecutor, argued for a 30-day jail sentence and three years probation for each defendant, citing the fact that two veterinarians who examined the seized cattle rated many of them as 2 or 3 on a 1-9 scale of animal health. She pointed out that Pauly and Frost had confined the cattle, and they were unable to obtain adequate food or water on their own.
Pauly’s attorney, Steffen, asked the court to order restitution payments but not jail time or fines for her client and his girlfriend.
She claimed that Schilling’s cows delivered to Pauly and Frost were old and in poor condition when they arrived, which Harris and Schilling denied.
Steffen also stated that, despite the recent criminal charges against her client, Pauly’s criminal history was “unremarkable” and did not include any prior charges of animal neglect.
“Mr. Pauly has his whole life been caring for cattle,” she told me. “But life happened and things went off the rails.”
Judge Rank, on the other hand, refuted that argument, pointing out that after so many years of caring for cattle, Pauly and Frost should have known better than to engage in animal neglect.
“This is not a situation where you have some young kid or a city slicker looking to have a hobby farm and they don’t know what they’re doing,” according to the judge.
Rank stated that a jail term was necessary to send a strong message about the importance of properly caring for livestock in South Dakota. She sentenced Pauly and Frost to 15 days in jail, a year of unsupervised probation, restitution, and court costs, and barred them from owning cattle for a year.
“Crops and cattle are among the most beloved things (in the state),” said her representative. “You had critters here who were completely dependent on the defendants for their lives, and for whatever reason, they neglected that duty.”
