Court documents reveal criminal connection between Tulare County father and son

VISALIA, Calif. (KFSN) -- When well-known Exeter cattleman Justin Greer was arrested by Tulare County Sheriff's detectives in West Texas earlier this year, it sent shockwaves through Tulare County's tight-knit agricultural circles.

"It shook this community, truly," said Tulare County Sheriff's Sgt. Bobby Rader.

Greer, who is currently awaiting a preliminary hearing, is accused of stealing hundreds of head of cattle and defrauding cattle business partners to the tune of $1.5 million.

Along the line, detectives in the ag crimes unit uncovered evidence of potential crimes committed by his father, Bruce Greer.

"So we began a parallel investigation into him," Rader said. "Multiple search warrants, multiple financial institutions and approximately eight months of investigation...and that investigation determined a theft of at least $1.1 million from E.M. Tharp and Golden State Peterbilt. He was the general manager there."

A letter from Bruce Greer's attorney to the court says her client worked at E.M. Tharp for 39 years before he was fired in November of last year.

Court documents reveal the elder Greer is accused of writing dozens of company checks to himself as reimbursement for costs incurred on his personal credit card.

But through their investigation, detectives determined he was defrauding his employer.

A detective wrote in part quote:

"Detectives authored search warrants for the American Express credit card accounts of Bruce's wife. Upon the arrival of this information, detectives found further day-to-day living expenses, lavish vacations, and trips, payments to medical facilities for what appears to be cosmetic surgery, entertainment in Las Vegas, Hawaii and other popular travel destinations."

Additionally, detectives believe Greer deposited hundreds of thousands of dollars' worth of company checks into an account he shared with his son.

Investigators believe he was stealing money to quote "support his cattle partnership with his son Justin."

They're also accused of setting up four fake companies in Wyoming to launder the money they stole.

"You can have all the software in the world you can have all the safety measures or preventative measures in place that you want, but we still have to rely on people," Rader said. "We still have to trust people. And that's the ultimate factor. (Bruce Greer) was unquestionably trusted."

Trust was betrayed in these cases, sheriff's detectives say.

But the victims are appreciative of their aggressive investigation.

Detectives say the investigation is ongoing as they're still receiving relevant information from people and financial institutions.

Bruce Greer's court next court date is June 1st.

Court documents reveal he has been placed on supervised release from jail.

He's required to turn in his passport and wear a GPS monitor.