I was relieved when the news broke on April 28 that the U.S. government had dropped criminal charges against Charles and Heather Maude of Caputa, S.D.

When the charges were first announced many of us were scratching our heads wondering what the heck was going on.

The government’s case was that the Maudes had stolen federal land. But the land had been in the hands of the Maude family since the early 1900s with no government complaints during that time. That is until March 2024. At that time, the Maudes were told that a fence between their property and the adjacent Buffalo Gap National Grasslands blocked access to Buffalo Gap National Grasslands.

The indictment that ensued charged that the Maudes, “Beginning at a time unknown, but no later than December 2020 … did knowingly steal, purloin and convert to their own use National Grasslands managed by the United States Department of Agriculture … namely, approximately 25 acres of National Grasslands for cultivation and approximately 25 acres of National Grasslands for grazing cattle, having a value in excess of $1,000, and did aid and abet each other, all in violation of (U.S. law).”

I don’t know about you, but that would have scared me to death.

To make matters worse — and what seemed to me as a way to punish the family further —  Charles and Heather Maude were charged separately so they each had to hire an attorney. I hope they are compensated for the time and money that they spent to fight this egregious action by the federal government.

It seemed to me and others that the government should have sat down with the Maudes before filing charges and reached a solution to the problem that didn’t involve the courts. Because this is a case that involved 50 acres, hardly enough to start a federal court case.

Fortunately, the Maude family did what they needed to do to fight the criminal case in a professional manner, even though I’m sure internally they were panicking. And who could blame them. If found guilty they could face thousands of dollars in fines and jail time, which would have separated them from their two children. To be more concise they could have been sentenced to up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Fortunately, the farm and ranch community rallied behind them, raising money for their defense and supporting them in any way they could.

I know there are still some questions surrounding the case but for the moment we should just be thankful that the criminal charges have been dropped and the Maudes can breathe easier knowing they won’t have to fight the whole of the federal government.

But the fact that the federal government undertook this case to begin with is unsettling and should not have happened. This is clearly a case of government overreach and should frighten anyone not just farmers and ranchers.