TUCSON – A convicted Coolidge cattle thief, Donald Hugh Nichols, was sentenced to 41 months in prison after pleading guilty to wire fraud.
Between 2013 and August 2017, Nichols, age 62, with the help of Seth Nichols, his son, engaged in a scheme to steal cattle from the Marana Stockyards and Livestock Market, an entity which hosts weekly livestock auctions for Arizona ranchers. As a cattle broker for third-party buyers, Nichols also illegally bid on his own cattle without the buyers’ knowledge or consent.
Some of the cattle that Nichols purchased on behalf of third-party buyers were stolen from Marana Stockyards. As a result of these fraud schemes, Marana Stockyards suffered over $1 million in losses.
Seth Nichols previously pleaded guilty for his role, and was sentenced in December 2018 to 60 months in prison.