Lithgow resident and ex-Parc Brook Farms owner Heidi Otto was charged on March 12 with animal cruelty following her admission, in documents asking for financial relief regarding last year's zoning convictions, that five horses were starving and eight were dead.
Otto was charged with five counts of misdemeanor animal cruelty when it was discovered that she had allegedly allowed thoroughbred horses that she owned to starve to death on her property. Upon her arrest Otto was issued an appearance ticket for March 25 to appear in Town of Washington court to answer the charges.
"We found five horses in an outside corral area," said Dutchess County SPCA humane law officer Doug Niederkorn. "They were very thin and had no drinkable water. The stables were ankle deep with feces and urine and the hayloft was filled with pigeon droppings. Ms. Otto claimed there were 13 horses altogether and that eight of the 13 were buried prior to our notification."
Niederkorn said that he found three stallions, one filly and one mare at the site and that the mare was dead with its stomach eviscerated. The dead horse was frozen and according to Neiderkorn it looked as if the horse was with foal.
Assistant Dutchess County DA Jessica Segal said, "According to the vet, the way it was explained, the horse was frozen and the amniotic sack was outside the horse. The vet has examined the horse but it's still under investigation."
Town of Washington attorney Kyle Barnett explained that it was his office that alerted the Dutchess County District Attorney's office and the DCSPCA. Upon reviewing court documents recently submitted by Otto asking for preliminary injunctive relief from the court for release of monies frozen due to her zoning violations case, Barnett learned that Otto had dead horses on her property that had to be removed.
"When the allegations came to our attention we forwarded it to the Dutchess County District Attorney's office and the ASPCA," said Barnett. "The town is horrified by the allegations of what is taking place at Parc Brook Farms."
Another person involved with Otto and Parc Brook Farms was also arrested on March 16. Stephen Beaudoin was arrested at Parc Brook Farms at 11:30 a.m. Sunday, March 16 on the same charges as Otto.
According to Niederkorn, an anonymous donor has donated their private stables to take in the horses on a temporary basis, but the SPCA is looking for someone to take them permanently.
The SPCA is urgently seeking donations of hay, feed and farrier care (to treat the hooves), as well as monetary donations.
Otto was convicted March 19, 2002 on 16 counts of illegal occupancy and one count of operating a bed and breakfast without a permit. She was sentenced to three years probation and fined $5,950. Otto's property was auctioned off by the St. Paul Federal Bank for Savings in May of 2002 at a county auction.
She is appealing her March 19 conviction. Otto was arrested again on Sept. 20 of last year for violation of parole and was placed on electronic monitoring in lieu of jail. Throughout her trial Otto maintained that a conspiracy was put in place against her by the Town of Washington among others. In the above-mentioned court document she claims that she has no food, has not eaten in days, has no car, no bank accounts, and no home. She also claims that her horses are dying and aborting from lack of food and that she is going to die as a result of this restraining order. Case UpdatesHeidi Otto, former owner of Parc Brook Farms in Millbrook, has pleaded guilty to one count of animal cruelty.
In March 2003, Otto was arrested by the Dutchess County SPCA Humane Law Division and charged with five counts of failure to provide proper sustenance for the surviving horses on her property, according to SPCA documents.
Otto pleaded not guilty to all five counts, the documents showed.
Otto admitted, in documents from 2003, asking for financial relief regarding zoning convictions in 2002, that five of her horses were starving and eight were dead, according to previous published reports.
Just before her case went before a jury on June 13, Otto pleaded guilty to one count, according to Sara Thompson, assistant district attorney.
"She decided to admit responsibility for not caring for her horses," said SPCA Humane Law Officer Doug Niederkorn.
After Otto pleaded not guilty in March 2003, the SPCA filed for a security bond hearing, which would require Otto to pay for care of the surviving horses until her trial, he said.
Otto failed to make that payment and the horses were forfeited to the SPCA and eventually adopted, he said.
The suit against Otto was initially filed in Town of Washington court. The judges recused themselves and the case was transferred to the Town of LaGrange court. Those judges also recused themselves, so the case was then transferred to the Town of Wappinger court, Thompson said.
At the June 13 suppression hearing, Otto's lawyers asked for a number of documents, such as veterinary exams, to be suppressed, said Thompson.
Most of the evidence was not suppressed during the pre-trial hearing, so Judge Carl Wolfson listened to several hours of evidence, she said.
Just before the jury entered the trial at 5 p.m., Otto changed her plea to guilty on one count, Thompson said.
"She said, on the record, that she hadn't fed her horses enough food," said Thompson.
Although Otto was charged with five counts of failure to provide proper sustenance, her guilty plea to one count will cover all of them since her sentence for each count would run concurrently, Thompson said.
Thompson said when Otto was addressing the judge, she referred to all her horses, not just one.
"I felt she took responsibility," Thompson said.
Stephen Beaudoin was arrested on the same charges as Otto's in March 2003. Beaudoin worked at Parc Brook Farms.
Beaudoin reached an agreement on his charges with the DA's office and agreed to testify against Otto.
"We felt he was trying to help and that the responsibility lay with Otto," she said.
Beaudoin pleaded guilty to a concurrent DWI charge, so all dispositions wrapped up together, she said.
All five horses that were found starving on Otto's property are in homes where they are being cared for, said Niederkorn.
"The bottom line is that these animals are happy and healthy and getting the attention they so badly needed," he said. "That's what really matters," he said.
Otto will face sentencing on Aug. 18. She faces up to one year in jail or a $1,000 fine.
Wolfson told Otto that if she pleaded guilty before the trial was over, he would try to keep her out of jail, Thompson said.
Thompson said there is typically a graduated punishment, and this is Otto's first offense of animal cruelty.
Otto was convicted March 19, 2002 on 16 counts of illegal occupancy and one count of operating a bed and breakfast without a permit, published reports stated.
She was arrested Sept. 20, 2002 for violation of parole and was placed on electronic monitoring in lieu of jail, the reports said. | Source: Millbrook Round Table - June 23, 2005
Update posted on Jun 23, 2005 - 12:17PM |
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