72 horses living in inadequate conditions - Oak Creek, CO

Tuesday, Jun 1, 2010

County: Routt

Charges: Misdemeanor
Disposition: Convicted

Defendants/Suspects:
» Sandy Wisecup
» Cynthia Morgan-Hatlee

Case Updates: 1 update(s) available

An Oak Creek woman was charged with 80 misdemeanor counts of animal cruelty after animal control officers found that her 72 horses were living in inadequate conditions in the Oak Creek Canyon.

Routt County Sheriff's Office animal control officers charged Sandy Wisecup after investigating the horse pens near mile marker 54 on Colorado Highway 131. Seventy-two of the charges are based on the horses being kept in muck " a combination of mud and feces. Another eight charges were based on horses' hooves not being trimmed properly.

Wisecup said all of her horses are taken care of and that she has been moving the horses around in pastureland.

"I think it's all bull," she said. "My horses are all in good shape."

Wisecup said she does not own all the horses kept in the area. She said her family members own several of the horses and that she has given several others away She said she also rents out pasture to other people. Animal control officer Dawn Smith said about five horse owners who keep their horses on the property were included in the investigation.

Smith said the investigation was sparked when there was a "flurry of calls" from people concerned about the horses' conditions and weight. The pens, in the canyon along Colo. 131, are visible from the road.

Smith visited the pens with veterinarian Dr. Courtney Diehl in April and May as part of the investigation and scored all of the horses based on body weight.

They found that five were slightly underweight, but the bigger problem was with the conditions and the hooves.

"The animals were in consistently wet conditions on ground that was not well drained," Smith said.

She said some of the horses were in small pens where they were not able to get out of the muck. Diehl said that could cause problems over time.

"Generally, when a horse's foot is wet and packed with wet material for long periods of time, the structure of the hoof becomes soft and permeable," she said. "Bacteria and fungus pack into the sole … and over time it weakens the whole foot."

Smith said they also graded the horse's hooves on a scale based on how overgrown the hooves were judged to be because overgrown hooves are thought to cause chronic pain. Smith then recommended a timeline for all of the overgrown hooves to be trimmed, and she said Wisecup is complying with those recommendations.

"I've trimmed them like I always do," Wisecup said. "They give me a deadline to trim horses' hooves that aren't even long."

Diehl said hooves should be trimmed every six to eight weeks. Diehl also said many of the complaints about the horses were found to be false.

"A lot of people go by and they say those horses are emaciated, they're being starved, and that's not true "they're not emaciated, and they're not being starved," she said.

Routt County Deputy Dis­trict Attorney Patrick Walsh is overseeing the case. He said he's reviewing the reports and, as with all misdemeanor cases, he will prepare a plea agreement for Wisecup to consider at her first court appearance, scheduled for Aug. 24.

Deputies also impounded a mare and her foal found at the property and charged their owner, Cynthia Hatlee Morgan, with animal cruelty. Smith said the mare was 200 to 300 pounds underweight but has put on about 75 pounds since she was taken off the property in late May. A phone number for Hatlee Morgan was not available. She also is scheduled to appear Aug. 24.
History of charges

Wisecup has been charged with animal cruelty about a dozen times before, with cases dating to the 1980s, according to Sheriff's Office records.

Routt County Sheriff's Office evidence technician Mellisa Baumgartner said there have been numerous complaints, and because most of them are older, it's not immediately clear how many resulted in charges.

Wisecup said several of those have resulted from misunderstandings. She said in one case, starving horses found on her land were owned by another man. In another case, she said she was unable to go to court and defend herself and was told the court found against her, but she did not recall any punishment.

In 1992 she was charged with 20 counts of animal cruelty and another 13 counts that were unrelated.

A jury found her not guilty on all 20 counts of animal cruelty.

Case Updates

After negotiations that stretched into the night, attorneys finalized a plea deal late Monday for Sandy Wisecup that outlines the number of horses she can keep on her property in Oak Creek Canyon and the care she must provide for them. Wisecup was charged with 80 counts of animal cruelty in late June for allegedly neglecting her horses near mile marker 54 on Colorado Highway 131. Routt County Sheriff's Office animal control officers charged that Wisecup did not maintain her horse's hooves and that some horses were underweight. The discussions between Wisecup, Deputy District Att­­­­­­orney Patrick Welsh and Wise­­cup's attorney, Denver-based Linden Hagans, spanned from the original court time of 9 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. Monday �" well past the court's typical hours. Routt County Judge James Garrecht allowed the discussions to continue because it appeared several times that a deal was near and because Hagans drove from Denver. As part of the deal, Wisecup entered a plea of no contest and agreed to a long list of horse care requirements and inspection for the two years of deferred judgment. She will have to have her horses under the care of a licensed veterinarian for the duration of the term, with checkups every 12 weeks. The vet will make a report to the court after each inspection. The horses' hooves will be inspected by a farrier every eight weeks, or at the direction of the vet. The horses will have to be on a dietary plan recommended by the vet and must have water no more than 24 hours old available at all times. Wisecup also will have to consent to an evaluation of her property by Routt County Extension Agent CJ Mucklow, and she must follow his recommendation about how many horses she is allowed to have on the property. She can sell or transfer any additional horses, or move them to another property. She must first reduce the number of her herd by 20 horses within 60 days, and she is prohibited from obtaining any other equestrian animals during the two years of deferred judgment. If Wisecup violates any of the terms, she can face a fine of as much as $5,000 and spend as many as 18 months in jail. As part of the agreement, she will not contest any restitution charges to as much as $1,500. One of Wisecup's horses was euthanized during the investigation following a vet's recommendation, Deputy Kurtis Luster said. He said the horse's leg was damaged and had not fused correctly. Wisecup said the horse was injured when it was young and that she owned the 10-year-old horse for six years with no incident. Cynthia Morgan-Hatlee, who was charged with one count of abuse in the case, reached a deal of a deferred prosecution with a similar list of requirements. If she abides by those terms for one year, her case will not proceed to court. She also agreed to not contest restitution of as much as $2,200. Morgan-Hatlee's mare and colt were taken from her care during the investigation because the mare was reportedly 200 to 300 pounds underweight. At one point late in the negotiation, Wisecup said she would not accept any deal because she insisted she was not guilty of the charges. "I will never say I did something I didn't do," she said. "I may go to court and somebody may prove different, but I didn't do it. I have never abused or neglected one of my animals in my life, and I will not admit to it." She said when she learned that her refusal might jeopardize Morgan-Hatlee's deal, she agreed to the deferred judgment. Wisecup has said many of the horses on the property belong to other people, including family and friends. She was acquitted of 20 similar charges in a 1992 trial. Garrecht said the deal ap­­­peared to be lenient, given the charges, and asked Welsh how it was created. Welsh said the goal of the deal was the care of the horses, and delaying the case four or five more months awaiting trial would not help them. "In looking at what was best for the horses, we felt making these changes following these guidelines would be best," he said. "It gives Ms. Wisecup a chance to prove to herself and this court that she can abide by this, and we think she can." He also said there was conflicting expert testimony about the care of the horses and that it did not appear worthwhile to take the case to court to have a jury decide which expert was more believable. Hagans agreed the horses' care was at the center of the agreement, and he said he was pleased with the outcome. "I would just say that I think all of us have worked very, very hard on this, and I can tell you both sides have alternately frustrated today," he said. "I think when you get a settlement where neither side … is ultimately really tap dancing out of the door, it's probably a fair settlement. I think that's what we have today."

Source: steamboatpilot.com - Nov 8, 2010 Update posted on Nov 13, 2010 - 9:04PM

References

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