A Tennessee man is free on bond and facing 27 charges of passing hot checks, totaling more than a million dollars, to a Garnett cattle buyer. Fifty two-year-old Burt Edgar Smith of Lewisburg, Tennessee, is due in court October 15th for a bond hearing. He was arrested September 12th in Olathe and released on a $75,000 cash surety bond. Court records say Smith made dozens of cattle purchases from Ron Ratliff Cattle Buying Station in Garnett, some transactions totaling more than $200,000, with insufficient funds to cover the purchases. Anderson County Attorney Elizabeth Oliver says Smith allegedly shipped the cattle for butcher before they could be reclaimed for the outstanding debts.
The incident wasn’t the first time Smith had a brush with the law and civil courts over cattle dealings, hot checks and failure to maintain required bonds and custodial accounts. Court records in Kansas, Tennessee and Texas showed Smith faced similar charges in two different counties, as well as civil suits two other counties, and for separate transactions in Tennessee, Texas and West Virginia dating back to 1999.
