Sheriff reports suspect beef sellers

Nodaway County Sheriff Darren White on Monday issued a warning to area residents to be on the lookout for a pair of men he suspects of improperly selling beef out of the back of a pickup truck.

White said his office has received several calls about the men, who he described as driving a white Ford F-150 pickup with a household freezer sitting in the bed.

The sheriff said the men do not have a business permit for door-to-door selling, and that the freezer is not plugged in to a power source, meaning that the operation is likely in violation of Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services regulations.

In addition, he said, the men are said to be using “hard sell” tactics and have reportedly intimidated at least one resident into writing a check for several hundred dollars, on which she was subsequently able to stop payment.

Most people approached by the men are elderly, said White, adding that most of the calls have come from Clearmont and other locations in the northern part of the county.

White said he and a deputy approached the pair near a rural neighborhood a few miles north of Maryville, warning them that their actions were probably illegal and requesting that they leave the county.

The sheriff said he told the pair that if authorities received any more calls, “we would take them to jail and let the courts figure it out.”