Nelson facing new charges on endangering food supply

FORT SCOTT, Kan. — Garland “Joey” Nelson, charged by Missouri prosecutors with tampering with a vehicle rented by Nick and Justin Diemel, Bonduel, will face new allegations in Kansas.

The Kansas City Star reports authorities in Bourbon County, Kansas, have charged Nelson with “endangering the food supply.” According to the statute listed on the state legislature’s web site, endangering the food supply means “bringing into this state any domestic animal which is infected with any contagious or infectious disease or any animal which has been exposed to any contagious or infectious disease.”

Prosecutors say Nelson didn’t have proper health papers when he delivered 35 calves from his family’s farm near Braymer, Missouri to a farm in Fort Scott, Kansas, in May. Tomme Feil, Nelson’s mother, said her son returned the remaining calves when his partner’s bank claimed them as collateral.

Nelson’s partner in the Kansas cattle deal, David Foster, said the calves brought to his pasture were sick.

A mid-August story in the Star quoted Foster as saying, “They were starved; they were malnourished. It was almost a complete loss.” He said he and Nelson bought 131 calves together but 96 died while in Nelson’s care.

Foster was quoted as saying Nelson was to raise the calves and the farmers would split the cost after the animals were sold. One hundred of the calves belonged to the Diemel brothers, Foster said.

The Star reported Foster claimed Nelson owed him more than $151,000. Feil told the newspaper that Nelson agreed that her son owed Foster money but disputed the amount. She said several people owed her son money and he planned to pay Foster back when others paid their debts to him.

Nelson, 25, is being held without bond in the Caldwell County, Missouri, detention center and is waiting for a Sept. 16 preliminary hearing. Nelson, arrested July 29, is charged with the state felony for driving a white Ford F250 pickup truck, rented by the brothers on their arrival in Missouri on July 20, from his farm in Braymer to a commuter parking lot in Holt, where it was abandoned.

The Diemels disappeared July 21 while visiting Nelson’s farm about a cattle deal. Human remains found on the farm, about 70 miles northeast of Kansas City, have not been identified.

Investigators have consistently labeled Nelson as their lone suspect since July 31.