Hunter resident convicted of embezzlement

(Enid-AP) -- A Garfield County jury has convicted a Hunter man of embezzling more than $1-million worth of cattle.<br><br>The panel of eight men and four women took about two hours Wednesday to find 40-year-old

Thursday, March 25th 2004, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

(Enid-AP) -- A Garfield County jury has convicted a Hunter man of embezzling more than $1-million worth of cattle.

The panel of eight men and four women took about two hours Wednesday to find 40-year-old Stephen Earl Buss guilty of one count of embezzlement by a bailee and recommend 2 Â½ years in prison.

Buss was convicted of fraudulently appropriating property worth more than $500.

He was accused of selling about $1-million worth of cattle from Ohio-based livestock firm United Producers for his own benefit.

Prosecutors introduced documentation that showed Buss should've had about 2,900 head of cattle, not the 812 that were found in May 2000.

Buss' attorney alleged shoddy record-keeping by the company and said there's no proof Buss ever got many of the cattle records show were in his care.