Christopher Stephen admits to stealing $100,000 worth of cattle in Mittagong

Discover how a Southern Highlands farm lodger bizarrely and brazenly orchestrated the daylight theft of 54 cows to settle an outstanding drug debt.

A Mittagong man admitted to the brazen daylight theft of a herd of cattle worth nearly $100,000 after telling police he needed to repay a debt.

Christopher Stephen, 62, was due to appear in Moss Vale Local Court on Tuesday after pleading guilty to stealing 54 cattle from a Mittagong property. The local man did not appear due to Covid restrictions, but the court heard he has admitted to the thefts.

Stephen was living on a property in Mittagong where a herd of 54 had been on agistment for five months, court documents show. Police estimate the herd, which includes Angus, Hereford, Murray Grey and Santa Gertrudis heifers, was worth approximately $95,000 at the time.

Christopher Stephen has pleaded guilty to stealing 54 cattle from a property in Mittagong. Picture: NSW Police

According to the court documents, Stephen was renting a home on the 150-acre property but had no involvement with the farm or the livestock. Despite that, police facts show he mustered the cattle into yards on May 15 and helped a livestock transporter load the first group of cattle onto a truck.

Stephen said he was the person in charge of the cattle and signed the National Vendor Declaration form for the cattle to be taken to a property in western Sydney, according to court documents.

Over the next two days, police facts show the truck made two more trips to collect the cattle from Mittagong and take them to Vineyard.

When the owner arrived to move his cattle on Tuesday morning, he couldn’t find them anywhere on the Mittagong property. After searching for hours, police facts show he inspected the cattle yards and saw the cattle had been recently loaded onto transport there.

Police arrived on the property to find Stephen, who admitted he had been involved in removing the cattle. He told police he was forced to steal the cattle because he owed $20,000 to an unknown person. Police believe the debt is drug-related.

Investigators from the Rural Crime Prevention Team check the cattle for injuries. Picture: NSW Police

The court heard Stephen is “someone who’s paranoid and unwell” and court documents reveal he believed he was being monitored prior to stealing the cattle.

The cattle were located and recovered on a property at Vineyard, near Windsor, on the same day they were reported stolen. Investigators from the Rural Crime Prevention Team examined all 54 cattle and identified them through their ear tags as the stolen cattle.

Stephen will appear at Moss Vale Local Court on October 18 for sentencing and to set a hearing date for two charges of intimidation and one charge of driving recklessly for which he was charged later.