Attorneys/Judges
| Prosecutor(s): | Wendy Macfarlane | | Judge(s): | Bruce Young |
Horse neglect - 14 of 100 seized
Frazier Park, CA (US)Incident Date: Wednesday, Oct 8, 2008
County: Ventura
Charges: Felony CTA
Disposition: Convicted
Defendants/Suspects:
» Joan Bor
» Ernie Bor
» Cecelia Bor
Case Updates: 1 update(s) available
Three people were arrested this morning in connection with an investigation into suspected animal cruelty at a Lockwood Valley horse ranch, authorities said.
Joan Bor, 65; her son, Ernie Bor, 30; and his wife, Cecelia Bor, 35, were arrested after Ventura County sheriff's deputies served a search warrant about 7 a.m. today at their Cochema Ranch at 16439 Curtis Trail in Frazier Park, sheriff's spokesman Capt. Ross Bonfiglio said.
All three were arrested on suspicion of multiple counts of felony animal cruelty, Bonfiglio said.
Authorities continued searching the ranch this morning for evidence that the ranch operators failed to provide proper sustenance for the horses, Bonfiglio said.
The investigation into suspected animal cruelty began in late September after neighbors complained to Lockwood Valley deputies that horses were being neglected and underfed at the Cochema Ranch.
Authorities removed 14 of more than 100 horses at the ranch last week after finding them malnourished and in need of immediate medical treatment. The horses were taken to the Ventura County Animal Shelter in Camarillo. One horse had to be euthanized late last week after it collapsed, authorities said.
Ranch owner Joan Bor said last week that the horses were not neglected at her ranch. She said her son bought several of the thinnest horses recently to prevent them from being killed, and that others were simply ill.
Today's arrests came after an investigation by the Sheriff's Department, District Attorney's Office, Humane Society of Ventura County and Ventura County Animal Regulation, which determined that neglect at the ranch rose to the level of criminal animal cruelty, Bonfiglio said.
More than 20 law enforcement personnel were at the ranch this morning, along with four veterinarians, he said.
It was not immediately clear how authorities would handle the horses still at the ranch.
Humane Society officials last week were working with ranch owners to protect those horses.
Case UpdatesJoan, Ernie and Cecilia Bor all pled guilty to felony animal cruelty charges Monday, Dec. 21. They ran a horse breeding operation in Lockwood Valley at Cochema Ranch, from which half of the estimated 100 horses were seized by authorities in September and October 2008. Mountain Community residents and feed store owners who observed the Bors’ practices and had seen dead and abused horses wrote depositions that were turned them over to the Ventura County Sheriff’s substation in Lockwood Valley. Their vigilance triggered a massive raid on the facility by Ventura authorities.
Ventura County Presecutor Wendy Macfarlane said, “They didn’t feed their horses. They kept acquiring more horses when they couldn’t afford or weren’t able to take care of the horses they had. They also continued to breed horses when they couldn’t feed the ones they had. So it was gross neglect of the needs of the horses....”
Several horses died as law enforcement moved in. Two were euthanized because malnutrition had progressed so far.
“According to Ventura County Animal Regulation and the Humane Society, these animals starved to death,” Macfarlane said. “Doctor (Craig) Koerner testified at the preliminary hearing that the ones that died had starved to death.” She said lab results showed that the others were “slowly being starved to death” with malnutrition.
The Bors each pled guilty to four counts of animal cruelty, and the remaining nine were dismissed. They are to be sentenced on January 22, 2010 at 1:30 p.m. in courtroom 13 before Judge Bruce Young.
The judge offered them no more than 180 days in the Ventura County Jail and five years probation in exchange for their guilty pleas. The maximum they could have faced if they had been found guilty at trial is five years in state prison, and they could still be sent to prison if they violate their probation.
At the time of sentencing Deputy District Attorney Wendy Macfarlane will ask that the Bors be forbidden from owning any animals while they’re on probation. She’ll also ask for fines of up to $20,000 dollars each, she says. They were already forbidden from owning horses by a judge last June.
It has taken a year of care, but all but seven of the surviving horses have now recovered and have been adopted. | Source: The Mountain Enterprise - Dec 25, 2009
Update posted on Dec 26, 2009 - 1:52PM |
References« CA State Animal Cruelty Map
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