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Case #3412 Rating: 2.5 out of 5
Farmed animal neglect - 4 found dead
Bernalillo, NM (US)Incident Date: Thursday, Mar 11, 2004
County: Bernalillo
Disposition: Convicted
Defendant/Suspect: Leroy Frederick Trujillo
Case Updates: 2 update(s) available
Bernalillo County Sheriff's Department deputies arrested 35-year-old Leroy Trujillo Thursday and charged him with seven counts of extreme cruelty to animals, according to a Metro Court criminal complaint.
Trujillo's arrest came after a neighbor reported there were two dead cows and a dead horse in their pens on Trujillo's Tijeras property, according to the complaint.
Deputies later found a second dead horse on the property and talked to a neighbor who is nursing two dogs and a goat they thought were in danger of starving, the complaint states.
"I don't think it's common to find that many animals (dead)," Cliff Mascarenas, deputy director of the state livestock board said. "Usually it doesn't get to that point where animals start dying . . . Usually we're aware of it before it gets to that point."
One neighbor told deputies she had not seen anyone at the home, located at 32 Quail Hollow Road for about three weeks, the complaint states.
"As the result of his mistreating two Angus steers and two horses, (Trujillo) did cause them to suffer unnecessarily or needlessly," the complaint states. "In addition to the livestock dying he needlessly caused two dogs and one goat to suffer."
Mascarenas said an animal as large as a horse can only live about seven days without water.
"They can survive up to a week, but they're pushing hard when they start going three to four days," Mascarenas said.
It appeared to deputies that a horse whose head was stuck under a pipe fence tried to escape before it died, the complaint states.
Trujillo works as a truck driver for Bernalillo County's Public Works department, county spokeswoman Liz Hamm said Friday.
He is in custody at the Metropolitan Detention Center in lieu of $30,000 bond, according to court records.
Case UpdatesA Bernalillo County employee indicted for letting his horses and cows starve to death in the East Mountains pleaded guilty to seven misdemeanor counts of cruelty to animals and was sentenced to five years' probation.
Leroy Fredrick Trujillo, 35, was originally indicted on felony charges of extreme animal cruelty after investigators last March found two dead horses, two cows and three emaciated animals that survived- two dogs and a goat- that he had left in Tijeras when he moved.
Trujillo is a truck driver for the county Road Department.
Neighbors stated Trujillo told them he had sold the livestock. They began feeding the surviving animals when it appeared Trujillo wasn't caring for them.
In a plea agreement reached last month, Trujillo agreed to attend anger management and animal abuse education programs, to not have animals while on probation and to allow unannounced visits by animal control officers to ensure compliance. | Source: mvtelegraph.com - June 9, 2005
Update posted on Jun 9, 2005 - 8:09PM |
| Trujillo has pleaded guilty to seven misdemeanor counts of animal cruelty after two horses and two cows were found dead in Tijeras last March. Trujillo has been sentenced to five years' probation. | Source: KOBTV - Jan 11, 2005
Update posted on Jan 17, 2005 - 1:23AM |
References- The Albuquerque Tribune - March 13, 2004
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