A Newall man is charged with stealing over $25,000 worth of hogs in Buena Vista County. Sheriff Gary Launderville says 43-year-old Monte J. Grote had been contracted to raise feeder pigs for a Minnesota company.

A complaint was received in October saying several of the hogs were missing and Grote claimed they had died. An investigation showed that Grote sold several head of hogs from May through October, claiming they were his.

Grote was charged with two counts of first-degree theft and one count of second-degree theft. He is being held in the Buena Vista County Jail on a $10,000 bond.

(Reporting by Woody Gottburg, KSCJ, Sioux City)