VERMONT – An alleged cattle thief plead not guilty during his arraignment Thursday to charges that he used a counterfeit $100,000 check to buy 53 cows, officials announced today.
Jason Amidon, 27, of Coudersport, Pennsylvania, also plead not guilty to unlawfully transported of those cows from Lyndonville, Vermont, to auction in Greencastle, Pennsylvania, officials allege.
Authorities said Amidon is facing up to 10 years in prison.
U.S. Magistrate Judge John M. Conroy ordered the defendant detained pending trial, which has not been scheduled.
On January 15, 2015, a federal grand jury in Burlington returned the two count indictment.
According to a criminal complaint filed in the case, these are the allegations:
- On January 1, 2015, Amidon and his father traveled to a Lyndonville farm and presented a counterfeit check to the Vermont farmer, as payment for 53 Belted Galloway cattle, a heritage pedigree breed of cattle.
- Amidon represented the $100,000 to be an initial payment, with the $20,000 balance to be paid to the farmer at a later date. Amidon’s father then drove the cows to auction in Pennsylvania.
This is Amidon’s fourth cattle fraud case.
Two previous Pennsylvania state cases that resulted in misdemeanor convictions concerned similar cattle fraud. At the time of the offense, the defendant was facing state charges in Pennsylvania that involved the fraudulent promise of cattle for $135,000, which Amidon unlawfully pocketed.
Amidon is presumed innocent until proven guilty.