First District Judge VeNoy Christoffersen has fined a Utah State University student $625 and ordered him to pay $1,050.45 in restitution for the theft of two USU yearling heifers.
Christoffersen also sentenced John Ladigo Dick, 21, Logan, to up to five years in prison. But the judge then suspended the prison sentence to 30 days in the Cache County Jail on a school-release program.The heifers were stolen Feb. 11 from an experimental herd at the USU farm, where Dick worked part-time, investigators said. The animals were sold two days later at a Preston, Idaho, livestock auction.
A USU staff member reported the animals were missing from the university farm and notified Steve Albiston, a Utah state brand inspector. Albiston located the heifers at the Idaho auction yard and had Dick arrested.