The Story Begins

In the summer of 1993 Rod Vilencia, a Horse Trainer from the Long Beach area in Southern California made a deal with a woman to buy his two-year-old Buckskin Breeding Stock Paint Horse filly from him. The person that he made the deal with had been boarding the young horse for him at her pasture facility in the Palm Desert California area for just over a year. Vilencia had to make the tough decision to sell the filly after he had a few horses dumped on him by friends and clients and was overwhelmed with too many horses to deal with and care for.

The woman he agreed to sell the horse to could not afford to pay him for the horse upfront, so Vilencia agreed to accept a payment arrangement from her if she would sign a purchase agreement and send it back with her first payment. They made the verbal agreement via phone and Vilencia then sent her the written purchase agreement and a photocopy of the registration papers that belonged to the mare that was the mother of the Buckskin filly that he was selling to the woman, to prove to her that the horse was out of purebred stock. He then waited for her to make her first payment and return the purchase contract.

After two months without receiving payment or the return of the purchase agreement, and with no communication from the woman who was supposed to buy the filly Vilencia and his family and friends began to get concerned about horse theft. He tried to contact the woman numerous times in the early part of August 1993 to find out why she had not stuck to the payment plan they had agreed upon or returned the signed purchase agreement but when he called her, the phone number that he had for her had been disconnected.

Vilencia then got very nervous and upset and he called the Riverside County Sheriffs department and sent a Deputy out to the facility to find the woman and his horse. Deputy Larry Sherman of the Riverside County Sheriffs department was assigned the call and he went out to the facility in mid August and he did find the woman and Mr. Vilencia’s horse.

At first the woman was not truthful about her identity with the Riverside Deputy but after ten minutes or so of questioning she caved in and admitted who she was and admitted that she had the horse. She then told Deputy Sherman that the whole thing was a big misunderstanding and she went into the house and left a message on Vilencia’s home phone when he was at his training barn at work during the day. In the message she stated that she still wanted to buy the horse and she left a number for Vilencia to call her back at. She assured the deputy that she would straighten the whole mess out and he advised her that she had better or he would come back and then he left.

Vilencia talked to Deputy Sherman late that afternoon and he was advised by the Deputy that it was in his best interest to go and get the horse, or the money that she owed him for the horse. Vilencia tried several times to contact the woman at the phone number she left for him over several days time but there was never any answer? In the next few days Vilencia sent her a demand letter for the horse or the money that they had agreed upon via regular mail and “certified mail” to make sure that she had to sign for the letter. He had hoped by doing that she would have to respond to him.

Two and a half weeks later the certified letter came back unclaimed after she had refused to accept it several times and after it was left at the post office for more than ten days. Vilencia then went out the facility a few days later to try and find his horse and when he got there, his horse was gone and the woman who had her was nowhere to be found. He was devastated.

11 Years Later -- Miracles do happen and persistence pays off

This was the beginning of an eleven-year Odyssey of looking for his stolen horse and the woman who took her that would finally come to an end early one August morning in 2004. Nearly eleven years to the day that he mailed her the demand letter to give his horse back to him Vilencia was shaken by a bad dream about his long ago stolen horse that woke him up in the middle of the night. He had recently been to his Twenty-year High School Reunion just a few days before the night of the bad dream, and when he woke up because of the nightmare he was having he got to thinking about his class reunion and it gave him an idea! He was prompted to go and log on to the computer in the middle of the night and try to see if he could find the woman who stole his horse by checking out if she too had gone to her High School Reunion? He had never tried looking for her that way before?

In recent months Vilencia had started to use “Google” as his primary search engine for looking things up on the Internet. As he waited for the computer to warm up, he also realized that he had never tried to look for the woman who took his horse on “Google” before? He logged on to Google and he typed in “Palm Desert Area Schools.” The first school that he noticed was the Desert Sun School? He decided to try that school first and typed in Desert Sun School and decided to start with the year “Class of 1978 Reunion” and then work his way up from that year since he did not exactly know how old she was or what year she graduated from High School?

What he did not realize as he typed those letters and numbers into the computer was that he was about to hit the jackpot within seconds from hitting the last key. When the Web page opened up in the middle of the Class reunion page there was her name! After eleven years of looking within less than five minutes of using “Google” he had found her! Vilencia’s stomach was in knots as he clicked on her name and her Web page came up!

Her Reunion Profile had the name of a farm in Oregon on it, so Vilencia printed and saved the Reunion Profile page and he then used Google to try to find the farm. He found a link to the farm right away and when he clicked on one of the pages on the farm Website, THERE SHE WAS HIS STOLEN HORSE! After eleven years of looking he had finally found his horse, and not only his horse! The now thirteen-year-old Buckskin mare had a cute little Paint Filly by her side in the photos of her on the website! By navigating the site he was able to find a “for sale” ad for the Paint Filly who was now two years old! He could not believe his eyes.

Vilencia’s heart started to race! Now that he had found the woman and his horse what should he do? He saw that the woman who had stolen his horse had registered her with the American Paint Horse Association, and had given her a registered name. He called the APHA as soon as they opened that morning and what he found out from them infuriated him! She had also stolen Vilencia’s name and signature as well! She had used the photocopy of the mother of this horses papers that he had sent her with the purchase agreement to create fake documents and forged Vilencia’s name and signature to fraudulently register his stolen horse in 2002. Vilencia needed help and he needed advice on what to do now, but who could help him?

Once again Vilencia fired up “Google” and typed in the words “Horse Theft” he found the Website for “Stolen Horse International” and decided to call them and ask for help and advice on what to do now that he had found his horse after all of these years? He spoke with Debi Metcalfe the founder of “Stolen Horse International” who herself had once been a victim of a horse theft, and she just like Vilencia was lucky enough to find her stolen horse but only after an exhaustive 52 week search that spanned several states.

Metcalfe calmed Vilencia down and listened to his story. She was amazed! She immediately went into action and began to help Vilencia find out what he needed to do to resolve this situation and hopefully get his stolen horse back! Debi started to do what she does best-Network! She told him to stay calm and not contact the suspected horse thief at all, period. Metcalfe then put Vilencia in touch with a private investigator from the central valley of California who helped Vilencia find a PI in the area of Oregon where his stolen horse now was being kept. Vilencia was referred to three PI’s in that area of Oregon.

Vilencia talked with the investigators and decided to hire the one who was the only woman of the three. The female PI had horse knowledge and Vilencia got the best vibes from her and just knew that she was “The One” that he should hire to do an investigation and confirm that his stolen horse was still there on the property. Vilencia’s PI went out to the ranch under the guise that she wanted to potentially buy the two-year-old paint filly that was out of Vilencia’s stolen mare and met the suspected horse thief. The PI did her surveillance and gathered information and was even able to gather some unsolicited incriminating statements from the woman that had Vilencia’s Buckskin mare. She got pictures of his horses, both the two-year-old paint filly, and his thirteen-year-old Breeding Stock Paint Buckskin mare that had been stolen from him by this woman eleven years earlier.

Vilencia’s PI contacted him after her surveillance and report was complete and she had great news for him. His horse was in fact on the property. Vilencia then contacted the Oregon Department of Brand Inspection and spoke with Jack Nobel and told him the story of the theft. Jack put Vilencia in contact with Roy Hyder another employee of the agency and once again Vilencia told his story. Jack and Roy were both amazed!

After he contacted the authorities in Oregon, Vilencia called the Riverside County Sheriffs department in the hopes that Deputy Larry Sherman was still employed by them, and in the hopes that he would remember the horse theft case from 1993. As luck and fate would have it Deputy Sherman was still employed and he did remember the case! Now Vilencia had to try and get the Lincoln County Sheriffs Department to rescue his horse and arrest the suspected horse thief! Fortunately Vilencia had saved all of the paperwork, canceled checks, and letters that were associated with the theft case and had tons of ammunition and evidence to convince them with. Enter LT. Ed Stallard a Lincoln County Deputy and the person that Vilencia fondly refers to as the “Real Hero” of the case. LT. Stallard was the person at the Lincoln County Sheriffs Department that Jack Nobel and Roy Hyder took the case too and asked him for his help in building a case to make an arrest in the Horse theft and forgery crimes in this case.

LT. Stallard listened to Vilencia’s story and looked at his evidence and went right into action to build a case against the suspected horse thief who was living in his county with Vilencia’s stolen horse. Lt. Stallard worked very carefully and methodically and convinced the District Attorney's office that this was a prosecutable case and crime, even though the original theft was more than eleven years ago. LT. Stallard like Vilencia believed that this was a “continuing crime.”
The Lincoln County Sheriffs department then Subpoenaed the American Paint Horse Association Documents that were provided to them by the suspected horse thief.

Warrant Served

On December 15, 2004 after a search warrant was signed by the Grand Jury in Lincoln County, the DA’s office, and a Judge from the Lincoln County Court Lt. Stallard, Jack Nobel, and several other Lincoln County Sheriffs and Department of Brand Inspection employees served the search warrant on the suspected horse thief at her ranch and in Waldport/Seal Rock Oregon. They confiscated all files and forged paperwork on Vilencia’s stolen horse and they also found many pieces if incriminating evidence to be used against the suspected horse thief in the prosecution of the case. Including the original contract that was signed by her but never returned with payment and the other paperwork that Vilencia sent to her in the summer of 1993. They also rescued and confiscated Vilencia’s thirteen-year-old Buckskin mare “Ariel” now known as “Keno's Autumn Lark” the name given to her by the suspected horse thief, and they have since found out that the mare is once again pregnant and due to deliver her foal sometime in May 2005. They also rescued Ariel's two-year-old paint filly that the suspected horse thief tried to sell to Vilencia’s Private Investigator when she did her surveillance at the ranch where the horses were being kept.

Charges

After the sheriffs department served the search warrant on the suspected horse thief, rescued the horses, and presented its findings to the Lincoln County District Attorney's office Lt. Stallard and the Lincoln County DA’s office conducted a thorough investigation of the case that took nearly two and a half months. After the investigation was complete Chief Assistant DA Paulette Sanders and Lt. Ed Stallard made one more trip to the Grand Jury on March 2nd to ask for an indictment in the case against the suspected horse thief and signature forger. Mr. Vilencia traveled to Oregon and gave his testimony in the case before the Grand Jury as well. The Grand Jury returned the indictment quickly that same afternoon in the case. After a warrant was issued for her arrest, on Monday, March 7th Shaunda Lorraine Voyles, AKA Shandy L. Voyles, AKA Shandy L. Haden, 44 of Waldport Oregon surrendered and was booked into the Lincoln County Sheriffs Department Jail on suspicion of Felony Theft By Receiving in the First Degree, Felony Forgery in the First Degree, Felony First Degree Computer Crimes, and Misdemeanor Unauthorized use of someone else's Livestock.

Shaunda Voyles will be arraigned for these charges at the Lincoln County Court House in Newport, Oregon. Vilencia has filed a civil suit against Voyles as well for the custody of his horses and the monetary damages he has suffered as a result of the theft of his horse in the summer of 1993 and subsequent forgery of his name by Voyles in the summer of 2002. Vilencia says he will work closely with the Lincoln County Sheriffs Department and District Attorneys office on the criminal prosecution aspects of the case.
Vilencia said that he is glad that Voyles chose to move to a county and state where Law Enforcement and the District Attorneys office care about victim's rights. He also said he believes that having LT. Stallard and DA Sanders on his side has made all the difference in the world in how far he has come with this unbelievable case. He is grateful to Debi Metcalfe of Stolen Horse International for her guidance, help, and support over the past six months. Vilencia hopes to get custody of his stolen horse and her two-year-old filly as soon as possible due to the mare's pregnancy and delivery due date in mid May 2005, he hopes that Shandy Voyles will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law for her crimes, and Vilencia says that he plans to see both the criminal and the civil the case through to a successful end.

Vilencia is an Inspiration

Vilencia hopes to be able to help and inspire others who have had an animal stolen from them with his experience and never give up attitude. He also hopes that this case will prompt some changes in a few antiquated laws in this country concerning statute of limitations issues and penalties for this type of animal related crime. No doubt this will be an exciting and precedent setting case. Needless to say, Vilencia will continue to use “Google” as his main search engine on the Internet! When Vilencia was asked how he feels about actually finding his stolen horse after all of these years he said, "I am either the luckiest man on earth-or the most stubborn!”