Missing Horse Near Sacramento, CA, 95815

In January 2014, a man from Arkansas inquired about my horses which we were in the process of selling. During that time, due to health issues, my horses were under the care of a trainer for which I had been working for. On February 23^rd 2014, we received a call from the trainer and he said the potential buyer was there and wanted to discuss picking up the horses in a few weeks. We were told that our stud would need to be castrated prior to transport. We informed him that we would get the proper paperwork (USTA registration papers, transfer of ownership and a bill of sale) together prior to him returning and that the man would let us know prior to his return. Sometime in late February we called the trainer to check on the horses and called the potential buyer to confirm that he was still interested in purchasing the horses and to contact us when he got into town. A few weeks later we called to check on the horses and the trainer told us that the potential buyer had already taken the horses. We were not contacted by the potential buyer and never received payment. Potential buyer said that he already paid the trainer for them, even had a bill of sale for them from the trainer. He said that he would send a copy of the bill of sale that he had from the trainer. The next day we tried to call him to find out why he had not faxed the bill of sale yet. He did not answer and didn't return calls either. The next day we contacted CHRB (California Horse Racing Board). We then contacted the Sheriff's Department. They informed us this was a civil matter. We were able to obtain the gate records and on February 24, 2014 the buyer signed them out of Cal-expo. THE HORSE'S WERE SIGNED OUT THE VERY NEXT DAY after we spoke with the trainer and the buyer and was told that he would not pick the horses up for a few more weeks!