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News: Dusty Barber, aka "dbar"

9K views 47 replies 35 participants last post by  justletmein 
#1 ·
This just in... Dusty Barber is currently residing in the Throckmorton County Jail. According to the report I just received, he's been there for the past month. He showed up to a recent arraignment hearing without legal council. There is a tentative trial date of December 14th. It could be very influential to his punishment if all, or most, of his victims attended.

I'll post more news as it becomes available. Meanwhile, please pass this information to anyone you know who was taken by Mr. Barber and ask them to contact me asap. Thank you.

Scott-
254 666-9239
 
#6 ·
We took a hunt in Shackleford County (Moran) with Dusty. He did actually show and provide the hunt. Looking back on it now, it kinda explains why 2 Gamewardens showed up and were very uneasy. They asked allot of questions and checked us all. One of them never took his hand off his gun. He just covered his partner the whole time. Go figure! A couple weeks later D-bar stood up Sixtoe and another after they drove for 6 hours.
 
#9 ·
DBar

I was with Sixtoe when Dusty didn't show. A couple months back someone from the DAs office called to let me know that I didn't need to show to court for my subpoena and that dusty cut a deal. A few weeks ago I recieved a letter saying that Dusty was to pay me the money owed but he had 10 years to do it.
 
#11 ·
deke said:
but he had 10 years to do it.

That will teach him,LOL. How pathetic.
That depends on how many of those 10 years Dbar is locked up and how horny his cellmate Bubba is each night.
Worrying about something like Bubba, could make repaying debts a low priority.
Here is hoping that its a long sentence and that Bubba ain't got AIDS.
 
#13 ·
http://www.grahamleader.com/news/get-news.asp?id=10196&catid=1&cpg=get-news.asp

Trial set for alleged deer swindler
Tuesday, December 19, 2006
Chris Hunnewell


Dustin "Dusty" Wen Barber

A man wanted for allegedly defrauding deer hunters from around the state, including Young County, of thousands of dollars appeared in the Throckmorton County Courthouse on Thursday.
Flanked by guards, Dustin "Dusty" Wen Barber, 30, waited in Judge Charles Chapman's 39th District Court for his pre-trial hearing and a court date for his alleged 2004 felony theft of more than $3,000.

"We would like to take up the issue of bond," said Alex Eyssen of Abilene, the defendant's court-appointed attorney. "Mr. Barber has been locked up for over 90 days and is currently held without a bond. This is the only county that has a hold on him, and we'd like to set a bond. The last bond set in court was $5,000, and we ask that it be the same amount."

"The state is ready to go to trial, we are ready to go to trial now. There has been no delay on this case because of the state," District Attorney Mike Fouts said. "The court notes that there has been more than one occasion the defendant had his bond revoked because he failed to show up for a court appearance. We object to bond, but if the court sets bond we ask that it be set at a sufficiently high amount to assure his appearance. The other bond has not been adequate evidently, because he didn't appear in court."

"We will set another bond of $10,000," Chapman said. "Cash only, but if the defendant makes bond, we will require that he reports to the 39th District Community Supervision Office once a week."

Chapman set more pre-trial hearings for January 2007 and Barber's trial for Monday, Feb. 26, 2007.

Earlier this year, a Throckmorton grand jury indicted Barber on charges of swindling thousands of dollars from deer hunters. Other law enforcement investigators are also interested since Barber is repeatedly named in complaints filed in Young, Collins, Hood, Shackelford, Smith and Stephens counties.

"I've had 10 people call me who have been ripped off, from Seagoville, in Plano, in Dallas, Fort Worth and as far away as Bridge City near Houston," said Shackelford County Sheriff's Deputy Steve Huckabay. "He's quite a character."

Waco resident Steve Thrash's DeerTexas.com Web site, which helps hunters and landowners find each other, has more than 130 "Dusty" comments covering six Web pages from hunters unhappily involved with Barber as early as 2003.
"I've talked to people all over the state and in Louisiana," Thrash said. "Talking about numbers, it's not hundreds but dozens."
Assigned as a special investigator on Barber's alleged hunting scams, Sgt. Brad Chappell of the Special Crimes Division for the Texas Parks and Wildlife Game Warden Department, explained Barber had almost as many law enforcement officers interested in his business as complainants.
"In the course of the investigation, we've found there are at least 40 complainants involving the loss of more than $40,000," Chappell said. "Several sheriff's deputies were involved in the early stages of investigation involving smaller groups as well as four additional game wardens."

Three hunters, according to a Texas Parks and Wildlife investigation report, met with Barber in April 2004 to discuss subleasing property north of Throckmorton for the 2004-2005 white-tail deer season.

Though a contract was signed and money exchanged, when the clients investigated, they found irregularities from Barber's earlier statements, including a cabin which turned out to be a personal residence.

By May 2005, the clients requested a full refund and Barber agreed, but the hunters never saw a dime. Frustrated, the hunters contacted Throckmorton County Texas Parks and Wildlife Game Warden Shea Guinn in July 2004.

Guinn telephoned Barber, who explained, again, that it was a misunderstanding and promised to refund the hunters' money. Guinn told Barber he had a week to call back with news of a refund. About the same time, Barber was also making arrangements with some East Texas hunters to pay $6,000 for a hunting lease on the K3 Ranch in western Young County.

"We were looking for a deer lease in July and, through a friend, we got in contact with Dusty," said Donnie Griffith. "We contacted him and looked over several places. He met me in Tyler, gave me a signed contract and we paid him $1,200 apiece."

One man, Griffith recalled, drove around Young County with Barber, checking out the K3 Ranch and a location beside the Brazos River.

By August 2004, Barber was also touring Shackleford County with Thrash. After inspecting the property, Thrash recalled the excitement of Barber's declaration of a hunt that guaranteed 140-class bucks.

"Dusty advertised several hunting leases with us, probably without authority to use," Thrash said. "He called me one day out of the blue and told me he had some package hunts that he wanted to sell, and he only had a few left. The price was right and the area was right. I knew there were some big deer there. I told him that was pretty tall and what happens if they don't get an opportunity? He said, 'Then they'll come back and hunt until they do.'"

Backed by a solid-gold guarantee, Thrash sold five hunts at $1,100 a piece, collecting 50-percent deposits. However, once Barber had the cash, Thrash contends he became "real hard" to contact.

"I had to refund every nickel of their deposit money," Thrash said. "It couldn't have come at a worse time for me or my family at Christmas time."

Likewise, Guinn also couldn't make phone contact with Barber, and though Griffith and his friends made arrangements to put deer feeders on the K-3 Ranch in Sept. 2004, Barber failed to show up. In a similar manner, Plano resident Larry Wilson reported a disastrous "so called hunt" arranged through Barber in Dec. 2004 near Moran. Nine hunters, Wilson explained, found themselves assigned to 100 acres, with deer feeders that didn't work and sitting on buckets in a wheat field with more than 100 cattle in their field of fire.

"We couldn't shoot a deer if we wanted to," Wilson wrote. "My dad and uncles had a hunt booked the Dec. 11, 2004 weekend. I had to call them with the news. They were not happy."
Barber was taken into custody and released in January 2006 on $5,000 bond.

A Throckmorton County grand jury indicted him in March on the charge of felony theft of more than $1,500 but less than $20,0000. He was scheduled for three court appearances, but didn't show and faced additional charges of failure to appear when he was apprehended in October in Collins County.

Authorities extradited him to Throckmorton County where he appeared for a Nov. 16 pre-trial hearing and the recent one where he met Eyssen for the first time.

After a discussion with Barber, Eyssen met with Fouts, who refused to discuss the details of the case before the trial but was adamant that would not offer a soft plea bargain.
 
#25 ·
Not to mention that someone could have gotten hurt. 9 hunters on 100 acres? Leasing land illegally that the landowner wouldn't realize that someone was on his land? You think ChiefCharlie or Robs would get a little confrontational with someone shooting out of their blinds without their knowledge? This guy ought to be happy that no one got hurt in the process of his thievery.
 
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