Former veterinarian arrested for stealing thousands in saddles

STILLWATER, Okla. — A former veterinarian has been arrested, accused of stealing valuable saddles and tack, Friday.

News Channel 4 cameras were rolling as lawmen caught up to their suspect.

Karla Robles, 51, used to be a veterinarian with the USDA but her license was previously revoked.

Trophies and ribbons line the office of Wayne Halvorson.

His family is in the horse business; his daughter has been competing for years and is now on the equestrian team at Oklahoma State University.

However, during a recent show, something unexpected happened.

“She had parked the trailer outside of the building, unloaded her horse, took it into the stalls and when she came back out into the trailer, this saddle was missing,” Halvorson said.

She had to borrow one to get through the competition but it was not anything like the one she had always used.

“She’s kind of grown up using this saddle and it’s pretty special to us,” he said.

Investigators recovered the custom-made, $10,000 saddle.

Friday they arrested the woman they said took it.

“She can walk the walk and talk the talk and by her own statements, she fit in. She’d walk into these shows. She’d pick up these saddles and then she’d leave,” Oklahoma Department of Agriculture investigator Captain Jerry Flowers said. “We really aren’t sure what she’s doing with the money but we suspect she’s living on it and living high on the hog.”

Within the past six months authorities believe she took more than $100,000 worth of saddles and tack from horse shows all over the state and then sold them for a fraction of their worth.

“It does really shock you that somebody would do that within your own community,” Halvorson said.

Robles was booked into the Payne County jail and charged with several counts in multiple counties across the state.