Man in Larimer County admits to murdering 8 cows belonging to his neighbors.

Last week, court records revealed that a man from Larimer County had pleaded guilty to charges related to the shooting and killing of his neighbors' cattle back in April. The man, identified as 37-year-old Michael Hester, was accused of committing the act while driving around on his personal off-road vehicle. According to the records, Hester pleaded guilty to three counts of aggravated animal cruelty and three counts of animal theft, all of which are considered felonies. In exchange for this plea, 12 additional charges were dropped from his case, including aggravated animal cruelty, animal theft, shooting from a public road, and felony trespassing.

As a result of his actions, Hester could potentially face two to six years in prison and hefty fines of up to $500,000 for each charge. The incident occurred when several of Hester's neighbors reported to the police that their cattle had been shot at while he was driving a utility terrain vehicle, also known as a side-by-side. Upon investigating, deputies found seven dead cattle belonging to two different neighbors and one critically injured cow that had to be put down.

Under Colorado's "Open Range Law," livestock owners are allowed to graze their animals without any containment. This law was put in place to allow owners to freely use their land for grazing without having to worry about fencing in their livestock. However, this also means that if landowners want to keep livestock off their property, they must take the initiative to fence them out. This is according to the state agriculture department, which states, "In Colorado, livestock owners are not required to fence their livestock in. Instead, if landowners want to keep livestock off their property, they must fence the livestock out."

Hester's next court appearance is scheduled for January 31, 2025, for his sentencing hearing. In the meantime, residents can sign up to receive daily crime news updates straight to their inbox.

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