The Department of Justice has dropped federal charges against a South Dakota family that was accused by the Biden administration with theft of government property because of a property dispute over a 75-year-old fence line.
The Maudes, a fifth-generation family of ranchers in the southwestern South Dakota city of Caputa, were alerted by the U.S. Forest Service that fencing on their property blocked access to the Buffalo Gap National Grassland.
They agreed to a survey of the property lines, but after the survey was completed, they were charged with theft of government property because the Biden administration asserted that their fence was put over a boundary with federal grassland. The ranchers, Charles and Heather Maude, faced 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
"President Trump is directing his cabinet to ensure no citizen of this country is unfairly targeted on politically motivated witch hunts," Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said in a news release.
"That is what happened to the Maudes, and I am working to ensure no farmer, rancher or customer who works with USDA will ever endure baseless political persecution."
Rollins on Wednesday hosted the Maude family in Washington, where she announced the USDA is launching a web portal for "potential victims of ongoing lawfare originating under the Biden administration to submit their concerns and experiences."
Also at the event were Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, a former South Dakota governor, GOP Reps. Dusty Johnson of South Dakota and Harriet Hageman of Wyoming, Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., and Larry Rhoden, Noem's successor as South Dakota governor.
The Maudes run a 400-acre cattle and sow ranch in Pennington County near Mount Rushmore, which predates the Buffalo Gap grassland, which was established in 1960.
Rollins said the Maudes were operating under a decades-long "informal agreement" with the Forest Service to allow livestock grazing on a 25-acre slice of the more than 500,000-acre grassland.
"We are incredibly grateful to the Trump administration and all of these key players that have done so much, so quickly, relative to what we were facing before to get us where we are today," Heather Maude, a Wyoming native, said Wednesday in a video of her family's appearance with Rollins.
"When this hit, it hit at the heart and soul of our place that has been in [husband] Charles' family since 1910. They came to the area in 1907 and purchased the adjoining property in 1910 and have managed it without issue and with great care since.
"When this unnecessary grievance came to our family, we knew that we were innocent of any wrongdoing and we sought to find a resolution, and that was not forthcoming from the other side."
Rollins and Johnson credited Hageman for getting the case dropped. Hageman said addressing government overreach, especially in the West, is a cornerstone of her agenda.
"The case against the Maudes is a glaring example of the dangers of unelected bureaucrats with far too much power weaponizing the full force of the federal government in an unconstitutional effort to make felons out of farmers," Hageman said in the news release.
"Sadly, this type of behavior was commonplace during the past four years, but President Trump knows firsthand the catastrophic implications of lawfare imposed by an overreaching government and the dismissal of this case shows that 'business as usual' is no more."
Michael Katz ✉
Michael Katz is a Newsmax reporter with more than 30 years of experience reporting and editing on news, culture, and politics.
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