Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said Monday that the Trump administration is dropping criminal charges against the owners of a South Dakota family ranch whose case has been assailed by supporters as a politically motivated persecution.
Federal prosecutors indicted Charles and Heather Maude in June 2024 on charges of theft of government property related to a piece of Forest Service land surrounded by their property. The charges could have led to a fine of as much as $250,000 and a 10-year prison sentence, according to a GoFundMe page set up to support the family.
“The Maudes are not criminals,” Rollins said in a statement. “They have worked their land since the early 1900s, and something that should have been a minor civil land dispute that was over and done with quickly turned into an overzealous criminal prosecution on a hardworking family that was close to losing their home, children, and livelihood.”
The Maudes contended that their family had owned the Forest Service land since 1913 and had never been told by USDA officials they were breaking any laws until last year, according to the GoFundMe page. The couple and their children will visit with Rollins at USDA on Wednesday, where they’ll discuss “further updates on this case” and other actions by the administration to “limit regulation by prosecution,” the department said.
