Gillette Livestock LLC
Sweeny and Kendra Gillette
447954 E Hwy 60
Vinita, OK 74301
918-256-6071
FBI
Attn: Civil Rights Supervisor
PO Box 391
Bend, OR 97709-9998
Dear Civil Rights Supervisor,
My name is Kendra Gillette. My husband Sweeny and I were long time ranchers/feedlot owners with
our headquarters in Malheur County. We ran cattle in Idaho, Nevada, and Washington but were
recently forced to liquidate our business and relocate after ongoing harassment from the Malheur
County Sheriff Department.
We were successful, self made ranchers and enjoyed life in Malheur County. My husband was orphaned
at 14 and has an 8th grade education. He is a self made man and went on to run thousands of cattle with
a couple million dollar line of credit. Unfortunately, rumors and hard feelings lead the local sheriff and
brand department to start over-zealously scrutinizing our every move. Our cattle were inspected and
reinspected, shaved (devaluing them), our trucks were pulled over for hours while paperwork was gone
over and over, while our cattle suffered in the heat. Our friends have been harassed, my family
threatened, our customers, employees, and veterinarian bullied. To say this has been a nightmare is an
understatement.
The investigators would slander us to customers and slaughterhouses throughout the west, although no
wrongdoing was ever found. They got a warrant and put a camera up at our feedlot. We decided to
fight back and put the MCSO on notice of tort for the constant harassment. The next month, they got
another warrant to raid my home and seize our business records. This warrant was also to inspect our
cattle at the feedlot looking for stolen cattle. In the process of this raid the MCSO and Brand
department killed numerous cattle. The affidavit to seize our business records had a lot of innuendos
about stolen cattle. The whole thing was absolutely absurd. Our records were seized 335 days ago and
we still havent been charged. Instead of stolen cows, now the DA is threatening to charge us with false
business records. In the first place our records are legitimate, and in the second place, there may have
been a minor mistake here or there, given the fact weve bought and sold thousands of cows and turned
over millions of dollars. But nothing that would constitute a search warrant on my home and business.
The problem is that the police are seizing evidence on false pretexts; they say we stole cows, but they
really want our records. They pull our trucks over (as recently as last week in Jordan Valley) to check
paperwork and drill the drivers about Sweeny Gillette and where his cattle are. Our bank repossessed
our cattle back in January and sold them due to the MCSO informing them we were under criminal
investigation. This cost us hundreds of thousands of dollars and we are close to settling with our bank.
The endless expanding investigation, the phony pretexts, the harassment and slandering is not right. I
understand the law enforcement has a job to do. They should investigate legitimate complaints, they
should not turn cases into a witch hunt where they find less and less evidence and believe more and
more wrongdoing.
If you should have any questions please feel free to contact me at 918-323-2077 or Sweeny at 918-3232710. We also hired a Private Investigator almost 2 years ago to document the harassment. You may
contact Michael Padilla at 541-881-9572.
Sincerely,
Kendra Gillette
Cc: Brian Zanotelli
