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Case ID: 14323

Classification: Neglect / Abandonment

Animal: horse

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Horse neglect - two euthanized
Bloom Township, IL (US)

Incident Date: Monday, Jul 28, 2008
County: Cook

Charges: Felony CTA
Disposition: Alleged

Alleged:
» Frank Lee
» Donnie Edwards

Case Updates: 2 update(s) available

A former bodyguard for Chicago Mayor Harold Washington faces felony animal abuse charges after police found his horses malnourished and shuttered up in filthy stalls at his stable in unincorporated Bloom Township, authorities said.

Two of the four horses owned by Frank Lee, 67, of the 3500 block of West Adams Street in Chicago were so poorly kept that they were later euthanized by authorities, the Cook County sheriff's office said.

Lee, a retired Chicago police officer, was charged Monday with four counts of felony aggravated animal abuse, as was the stable's manager, Donnie Edwards, 62, of the 1600 block of East 87th Place.

Lee once worked as the personal security guard for Washington, sources familiar with the case said.

On July 28, members of the sheriff's special operations unit raided the Bar L Equitation, 1965 Glenwood-Lansing Rd., near Lansing, where they found the horses standing in stalls filled with more than 2 feet of manure, authorities said.

The horses were underweight, and their hooves were overgrown and bleeding, authorities said.

One of the animals euthanized had hooves so long that they curled upward, authorities said, and video of the raid showed the animal could barely walk.

Eleven other horses boarded by their owners at the stables were in good condition, authorities said.

Case Updates

Two Chicago men accused of aggravated animal abuse at a horse stable in unincorporated Bloom Township pleaded not guilty on Wednesday.

Bar-L stable owner Frank Lee, 67, of Chicago and caretaker Donnie Edwards, 62, of Chicago, face charges of four counts of aggravated animal abuse.

Lee and Edwards entered pleas Wednesday and are next scheduled to appear in court Nov. 6 in Markham, said Andy Conklin, spokesman for the Cook County state's attorney's office.

They face felony charges after Cook County sheriff's police found horses living in substandard conditions, authorities said.

Officials say a tip led officers to raid the stable in the 1900 block of Glenwood-Lansing Road in unincorporated Bloom Township on July 28. Police officers found four underweight horses in pens where feces was piled 2 feet high. The horses' hooves also were overgrown, cracked and bleeding, officials said.

Source: The Times - Oct 9, 2008
Update posted on Oct 9, 2008 - 10:14AM

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Two months after they were rescued from deplorable conditions inside a stable near Lynwood, two horses have made great strides toward recovery.

Renamed Charlie, by the farrier who tended to their hooves, and Jose, by humane investigator Ruby Wilson, the two chestnut stallion quarterhorses have gained weight, their coats are shiny, and they're able to walk without pain.

"It's a far cry from how they were when they came in," said Wilson, who visits the animals almost daily.

When he first was brought to the Orland Park equine hospital, Jose would cower in the corner of his stall. Now he playfully nudges Wilson, eats apples from her hand and sometimes even nods off with his head on her shoulder.

Raymond Morandi, veterinarian and owner of Orland Park Equine Hospital, said when the horses came in in July they were emaciated and dehydrated and their hooves were overgrown by as much as 13 inches.

Their coats were scratched, and Jose's mane was so matted it had to be shaved off.

As bad as they were, Jose and Charlie were in much better shape than two other seized horses that had to be euthanized that same day.

With proper medical attention, especially daily foot care, the rescued horses are expected to make a full recovery, Morandi said. Jose still has a right foot deformity, but that's expected to correct itself with growth, Morandi said.

Good news, indeed.

But Orson Welles once said that happy endings depend on where you stop the story. This story, unfortunately, continues. T he case of the abused and neglected horses rescued from a Bloom Township stable hardly is closed.

The rescued animals' prognosis may be good, but humane investigators say the jury's still out on whether the same can be said for the remaining horses at Bar L Equitation Stables.

Stable owner Frank Lee is ignoring an agreement he made with humane investigators allowing them to monitor the property. Lee also is awaiting court action on a battery charge against one investigator. And the bill for the care for the two surviving horses, Jose and Charlie, rapidly is reaching $5,000.

Acting on a tip, Cook County Sheriff's police entered the stable July 28 to find nine horses living in deplorable conditions.

According to reports compiled by South Suburban Humane Society investigators, most of the stalls were inaccessible. Some were nailed shut. Metal sheeting, wooden planks with exposed nails, buckets and other debris cluttered the barn floors.

The structure was windowless, making ventilation difficult and temperatures often unbearable. Many of the horses lacked water; others drank from unclean buckets.

It was as bad as humane investigator Phyllis Piunti expected. She called conditions there the worst she's seen in 28 years in the profession.

Four horses that were deemed to need medical attention were seized. Two were in such bad condition they had to be put down.

Lee, a former Chicago police officer, was charged with four counts of felony aggravated animal abuse. Each charge carries a possible penalty of up to one to three years incarceration. Last week, he was indicted by a grand jury.

Following Lee's arrest, Piunti was given court permission to monitor conditions and animal care on the property. She returned two weeks after the raid to find that some improvements had been made.

"There had been some cleaning of the property," she said. But attempts to get the names of the people whose horses were being boarded at the facility have been fruitless.

"Lee is so evasive," she said. "No one will tell me anything."

On that initial post-raid visit, Piunti informed Lee's wife that she would return again in two weeks. But on the eve of her next visit, she received a letter from Lee's attorney, Josh Niewoehner, forbidding her and anyone else, including law enforcement, from entering the property without a search warrant.

Niewoehner refused to comment on the letter, saying only, "These accusations are ridiculous. By no means would Mr. Lee ever harm any animal. He's not guilty."

Piunti said, "I don't believe the letter is legal because it wasn't issued by a court. But I don't want to jeopardize the case or the care of the horses by entering the property without a warrant."

The most frustrating part of this story for Piunti is that much of this could have been resolved a year ago.

Piunti first suspected trouble at the stable in July of 2007. Acting on complaints, she entered the property accompanied by a Cook County police officer and another investigator. She found hazardous conditions - broken fences, horses kept outside without shelter, insufficient food and water.

"We gave the horses water and they drank like crazy," she said. "They were frantic."

At the time, Lee would not allow her access to a barn on the property. Neither would the sheriff's police who accompanied her, she said.

"Lee was using foul language and ordering us to leave," she said.

Then, while she was sitting on a five-gallon bucket, writing up citations, he came up behind her and struck her, causing her to fall off the bucket, drop her paperwork and resulting in a large bruise, she said. Lee was arrested and charged with battery.

Following that incident, Piunti said she was told by the states attorney's office not to go back on the property until the battery case came to court.

Nevertheless, she persevered in her efforts to get help for the horses. She said she made multiple attempts to get Cook County officials to take an interest in the stable and particularly the light blue barn that, it turned out, eventually would double as a tomb for at least one horse. Calls made in July, August and September of 2007 to the Illinois Department of Agriculture and to Sheriff Tom Dart's office were not returned, she said.

"I wanted somebody to issue a search warrant, to file charges for animal cruelty, to do something," she said.

Chris McCloud, spokesman for the Illinois Department of Agriculture, said the department has no records requesting a follow-up to the 2007 incident.

"As far as we knew, the investigator was working with the sheriff's office," he said.

Penny Mateck, spokeswoman for the Cook County sheriff's police, said an officer did follow up with Piunti and expressed his concern about her safety. Mateck said another officer met Piunti on the property after the July 13 incident to follow up but the horses were gone.

"The sheriff takes animal cruelty very seriously. It is one of the things at the forefront of his work here. That was one of the impetuses for the formation of the Cook County Sheriff's Police Special Operations animal abuse unit last summer."

Piunti said the formation of that unit is what finally lead to Lee's arrest.

This past summer, one of Piunti's colleagues entered the property under the guise of a prospective buyer. Lee allowed her to take photos while there. Those photos show run-down conditions, two-feet high piles of manure and malnourished horses with overgrown hooves.

Piunti brought the material to Cook County Sheriff's police investigators. When complaints began coming in from the public, as well, a search warrant was issued and the barn door finally was opened.

Linda Estrada, executive director for the Animal Welfare League in Chicago Ridge, was among the investigators who entered the property.

"It was the worst thing I ever saw in my life," Estrada said. "It was so hot in there, you could barely breathe."

The horses were penned in their own filth, unable to even turn around in their stalls.

In addition to the four half-starved animals that were seized, investigators found the imprint of a dead horse, pressed like a fossil into the hardened manure.

"It was horrible," Piunti said.

Even worse, she said, "All of this might not have happened if they had listened to me a year ago."

But, Mateck points out, "the bottom line is that the case was investigated and horses were rescued and charges were brought against the owner."

Despite the arrests that have been made and the citations that have been served, Lee continues to evade humane investigators and police. He continues to refuse to cooperate.

The fate of the remaining horses hangs in the balance.

Some of the horses on his property belong to him, but others belong to boarders, Piunti said. Without knowing the owners' names, though, she can't contact them nor can she write them tickets for neglect or abuse.

"They have broken their agreement," Piunti said. "We need to be able to monitor the property to make sure the horses have clean stalls, adequate food and adequate exercise."

Meanwhile, the Animal Welfare League, which transported the horses to the hospital the day of the raid, is saddled with the hospital bill.

"We need donations desperately. We have 1,200 cages of animals, and we're doing everything we can to keep afloat," Estrada said. "Please, help us help them.

"This story is not over," she said.

Not by a long stretch.

Source: Southtown Star - Sept 28, 2008
Update posted on Sep 29, 2008 - 4:52PM

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Horse neglect - two euthanizedBloom Township, IL (US)

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Horse neglect - two euthanized
Bloom Township, IL (US)