A Bedford County man has pleaded guilty of cattle rustling and stealing farm equipment in cases made by state Agriculture Department investigators and Sheriff Randall Boyce about six weeks after Boyce took office last fall.

The case was revealed with the arrest of Mark Robert Carter, 30, and the recovery of 18 head of cattle, a pickup truck and several livestock trailers during a roundup that started on a farm off Orr Road in the Mooresville area of Marshall County in January.

Oct. 22 has been set for a sentencing hearing for Carter, who was living in rented quarters on T.E. Adams Road north of Shelbyville.