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Case #15855 Rating: 2.8 out of 5
Cattle neglected, found in home
Mountainhome, PA (US)Incident Date: Saturday, Oct 10, 2009
County: Monroe
Charges: Misdemeanor
Disposition: Convicted
Case Images: 4 files available
Defendants/Suspects:
» Leonard Manhart
» Karen Willie - Dismissed
Case Updates: 1 update(s) available
In her nearly 10 years of investigating animal neglect and cruelty cases around Monroe County, Eileen Pasquin thought she had seen it all. But she couldn't believe her eyes when she showed up at Leonard Manhart's farm in Barrett Township to round up a herd of cattle she determined were being neglected.
Her initial search of Manhart's 36-acre property on Upper Seese Hill road near Mountainhome turned up just three or four animals. Following a tip from a neighbor and a set of footprints in the dirt, she was drawn to the house to the right of the driveway.
As she peered in a front window, she saw two steers peering back at her from the living room of the single-story house.
"I actually didn't believe I was seeing it," she recalled this week. "It didn't make sense, so I just yelled for someone else to come look," she said.
She summoned Steven Williams, chief of the Barrett Township Police Department, who accompanied her as she served the search warrant that allowed her to seize the cattle.
He, too, was astonished by the sight. Inside the wood-sided ranch house that was the home of Manhart's parents until their death nearly 10 years ago, were five or six of the missing cattle.
"It didn't look real, and I couldn't believe what I saw," he said.
The story of how the cattle ended up in the house depends on who is telling it. Manhart, 52, says the animals were driven to the front porch of the house by Pasquin as she led the charge of rounding up the animals. The animals opened the front door, which he is certain was closed, and marched into the living room.
"The cattle were scared of these strangers on my land, and they were just doing their thing," he said Thursday. "They got them boxed in and forced them into the house," he said.
Manhart's neighbors, including his sister-in-law, Teri Manhart, say Manhart hid the cattle in his late parents' home to keep Pasquin from finding them.
"I know he put them in there. Leonard is just that type of guy," Teri Manhart said.
Becky Leister lives next door and said the cows were no stranger to the inside of the house. And she said she wouldn't put it past Manhart to hide the animals inside.
"For years there were no back doors on that house, and the cows would go in there all the time," she said. "They were definitely in there before they came to take them away," she said.
Chief Williams was no stranger to the Manhart property where he and two of his officers went to assist with serving the search warrant. His department had visited Manhart more than 40 times in five years for complaints of the cattle running loose.
"Leonard's been cited numerous times for animals running at large," he said. "We had a school bus nearly hit one, and one of my own officers almost struck one in his patrol car," he said.
The neighbors too, said that the loose cattle were a nuisance ever since Manhart and his partner, Karen Willie, got their first bull and cows back in 2004.
"It's kind of scary when you walk up on one in your yard at night," Leister said. "When your neighbor's cow poops in your yard, it's not like a dog doing it," she said.
Leister and Manhart haven't spoken to each other in years. Leister's feud with Manhart dates back to when both of their fathers were alive.
"They never got along with each other and I guess it just carried over," she said. "People have asked me why we just don't move. But I tell them I've been here for seven generations, and I'm not going to let him drive me away," she said.
Teri Manhart lives on the other side of Leonard Manhart's property. She married Leonard's brother, Ed, and she and her family live on 35 acres that border Leonard Manhart's 36-acre property. She said the loose cattle often turn the neighborhood into an obstacle course.
"Oh, those cows got out all the time," she said. "I mean, my kids have to dodge them when they get off the school bus. It gets pretty dangerous sometimes," she said.
Ed and Leonard Manhart haven't spoken to each other in 18 years, according to Leonard Manhart. "He would just as rather call the cops on me as he would speak to me," Leonard Manhart said.
Leonard Manhart is no stranger to police handcuffs. Barrett Township police have arrested him a handful of times on charges including disorderly conduct and assault on a police officer.
"He's usually not violent, but one time he did fight us when we went to talk to him," Chief Williams said.
"I just don't get along with the Barrett Township police," Manhart admitted. "I'm a nice guy though," he said.
Manhart's property is just a country mile from the center of Mountainhome, one of the most charming villages in the Poconos. Locals call it "Scarecrowville," where hundreds of scarecrows decorate front porches, businesses, even road signs all over town. At Mountainhome Deli, locals and leaf-peepers gather for pork and sauerkraut sandwiches and homemade white bean soup.
Leonard Manhart's property is gated and posted with dozens of No Trespassing signs. The area is mostly wooded. Old tires, empty five-gallon buckets, bags of trash, and broken farm equipment are scattered about.
Manhart's late parents' house sits toward the front of the property. Further back is a dilapidated building with a tarp on part of the roof. Manhart chooses to live in this building instead of his parents' house.
Last Thursday afternoon, Manhart stood in his driveway behind his rusting pick-up truck, leaning on a cane and puffing a hand-rolled cigarette. The truck bed is full of random farm equipment and smells of diesel fuel. Manhart vows to fight for his rights to keep his beloved Dexter cattle on his land.
Manhart said his first bull, Cletus, was the last full-blooded descendant of then-Attorney General Bobby Kennedy's herd of Dexter cattle. According to Manhart, the Kennedy cattle were a gift from Queen Elizabeth of England. Manhart claims Cletus was poisoned shortly after his partner Willie bought him. Cletus, along with the other cattle that have died over the years, is buried toward the back of Manhart's property.
He and Willie started raising cattle to sell for meat. He said the herd was never intended to be pets. Willie recently moved to Griffin, Ga., to care for her ailing mother. She along with Manhart faces 12 counts of animal cruelty. She said she is trying to work out a plea agreement before the case is scheduled to go to district court in Mountainhome.
About the cows he and Willie raised over the years and sent off to be slaughtered and butchered Manhart said, "I cared more about those cows than I do most people. I loved them when they were here. I love them when they were hauled off in a truck and I love them when I pulled them out of the freezer."
Case UpdatesA Barrett Township man convicted of animal cruelty has filed an appeal in Monroe County Court to get back 12 cows taken from him last August, saying he never abused or neglected them.
Leonard Manhart, 52, and Karen Willie of Georgia partnered in 2004 to breed and raise Scottish-Irish Dexter cows on Manhart's 40-acre Upper Seese Hill Road property. Willie later left the cows in Manhart's care so she could be with her ill mother in Georgia.
Neighbors reported Manhart had been neglecting the cows. They said the cows were emaciated and living in unsanitary conditions and that some had wandered onto other properties or out into the road due to inadequate fencing.
Pocono Animal Rescue, accompanied by Barrett Township police with a search warrant, went to the property last August and found the starving cows living in unhealthy conditions. Pocono Animal Rescue took 12 cows, but a 13th went missing in the surrounding woods and hasn't been found.
The cows were taken to a farm near Kunkletown to be properly cared for. One cow died shortly afterward and an autopsy revealed it had green bubble wrap in its stomach. Two others have since given birth.
Meanwhile, Manhart and Willie were each cited with 12 counts of animal cruelty, one count for each cow.
During a December hearing, Mountainhome Magisterial District Judge John Whitesell heard testimony and saw photos of the cows and Manhart's property. Calling it the worst case of animal cruelty he had ever seen as a judge, Whitesell convicted Manhart on all 12 counts, but dismissed all counts against Willie.
Whitesell ordered Manhart to relinquish ownership of the cows to Pocono Animal Rescue, serve 90 days in Monroe County Correctional Facility and pay a $16,552.46 fine.
The judge also banned Manhart from having or owning any animals on his property for 12 consecutive 90-day periods, one 90-day period for each cow, which amounts to a total of 1,080 days.
Manhart and Willie opposed Whitesell's decision, saying the cows were not neglected or abused. They said it's normal for Scottish-Irish Dexter cows to appear thinner than other breeds of cows, but other people familiar with Dexters said they have never seen those cows looking the way Manhart's did.
Manhart's attorney, Michael Ventrella, has filed a summary appeal of Whitesell's decision. In Pennsylvania, animal cruelty laws don't apply to a farm, which is what Manhart's property is, Ventrella said.
Pennsylvania law states farm animals, including cows, aren't pets, but are bred to be slaughtered for food, according to Ventrella.
Therefore, animal cruelty laws don't apply to farm animals as they do to pets, he said.
"The only exception is if farm animals are being used in some non-farm-related way, such as raising roosters for cockfighting," Ventrella said. "Since the accusations about Mr. Manhart have to do with feeding and sheltering, I argue that those are without a doubt traditional 'farming' activities, and so the law doesn't apply to him or any other farm.
"I'm a vegetarian and I don't like animal cruelty or people slaughtering animals for meat, but we have to go by what the law says," Ventrella said. "Mr. Manhart's property is recognized as a farm and, under the law, his cows should not have been taken from him."
Manhart was unavailable to comment.
A county court judge can either reverse Whitesell's decision, returning ownership of the cows to Manhart, or let Whitesell's decision stand, in which case Manhart could appeal to state Superior Court. | Source: Pocono Record - Jun 28, 2010
Update posted on Jun 28, 2010 - 4:36PM |
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