Edinburg man accused in cattle theft scheme back in custody

Phillip Joseph Drake

A 41-year-old Edinburg man accused of stealing 232 and 37 head of cattle from two different men is back in jail after failing to appear in court for a second time, according to jail records.

Phillip Joseph Drake, whose last known address is from Spartenburg, South Carolina, has been booked into the Hidalgo County Adult Detention Center on Tuesday for theft of cattle and theft of property charges without bond.

Drake was scheduled to appear in court on April 29 but failed to show, resulting in his bond being revoked and a warrant for his arrest issued.

Drake had also previously failed to appear for his initial arraignment on two indictments on Oct. 17, 2022.

According to court documents, the stolen property was valued between $30,000 and $150,000 in two cases.

On Oct. 21, 2021, authorities said that Drake reported being assaulted and tied to a chair at a property located off of Highway 281 on East FM 490 the prior month.

Sheriff J.E. “Eddie” Guerra stated the next day that the investigation into that assault had been closed due to Drake declining to cooperate.

According to probable cause affidavits, Drake was arrested on Oct. 15, 2021, after a man named Salvador Garza III alleged that Drake stole 232 head of cattle from him after meeting in late 2020 and contrived a business plan where Garza would bankroll the purchase of a herd of cows while Drake would buy them, feed them and later sell them for a profit.

In November 2020, Garza gave Drake a check for $22,550 to pay for 41 head of cattle and the following month, Garza gave him an additional $41,400 to pay for 51 head of Hereford cattle.

According to the affidavit, Garza gave Drake another check for $84,000 for another 140 head of cattle a month later.

Garza began to become suspicious of Drake in March 2021.

When Garza began asking questions, Drake started giving excuses, so Garza asked for Drake to hand over his cows or the money.

Special Ranger Joe Aguilar Jr. from the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association, described Drake as a “con artist” due to similar investigations involving Drake.

Aguilar, who investigated Garza’s case, previously said that neighbors near Drake’s property reported never seeing any of the cattle there for a while.

An October sunsets on a ranch north of Edinburg on Wednesday, Oct. 20, 2021. (Delcia Lopez | dlopez@themonitor.com)

In another case, in fall of 2019, a man named Roy Ruiz hauled around 267 head of cattle to Drake’s ranch in Edinburg in order to allow Drake to graze and feed the herd.

When it was time for Ruiz’s herd to be due back, Drake began giving him excuses too.

“Ruiz gave him a lot of opportunities to get the cattle back,” Aguilar said at the time. “He was sending these 36-foot trailers down and when his foreman would go back up he’d show up with five- or 10-head.”

Ruiz eventually instructed his drivers to stay at Drake’s ranch until he had every last one of his cattle.

That was the same day Drake reported being assaulted and tied to a chair.

Due to that report, a significant amount of attention from law enforcement was drawn to Drake’s ranch until he stopped cooperating.

Aguilar said at the time that Drake used Ruiz’s herd of cattle as a pawn in alleged schemes to cheat other ranchers in South Texas.

Drake would go into business with other ranchers and would claim Ruiz’s cattle were cattle he had purchased on their account, similar to Garza’s allegations against Drake, according to Aguilar.

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