Pet-Abuse.Com - Animal Abuse Case Details: Horse neglect - 19 seized

Horse neglect - 19 seized
Camp Point, IL (US)

Incident Date: Tuesday, Mar 15, 2005
County: Adams
Local Map: available
Disposition: Convicted

Abuser/Suspect: Lawrence Wietholder

Case Updates: 8 update(s) available

Case ID: 4083

Classification: Neglect / Abandonment

Animal: horse

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A 10-count warrant was issued for the arrest of Lawrence "Bud" Wietholder, after the Illinois Department of Agriculture removed 19 horses from his sprawling 900-acre farm south of Camp Point.

Wietholder, 58, has been charged with two felony counts of aggravated cruelty to animals and eight misdemeanor counts, including five count of unlawful disposal of dead animals, two counts of violation of owner's duties and one count of cruel treatment.

Assistant State's Attorney Jennifer Cifaldi met with Department of Agriculture investigators�and reviewed reports, photos and videos before getting Judge John Wooleyhan to sign a warrant.

Wietholder's bond was set at $10,000, meaning he'll have to post $1,000 to be free.

The horses were taken by volunteers with the Hooved Animal Rescue and Protection Society to Schone's Friendship Farm in Milan. Roger Schone said most of the horses are doing well and media coverage from the Quad Cities area has prompted a massive outpouring of support.

Wietholder is appealing the impoundment and a hearing is set for March 28 in Springfield. Until then, the horses will stay at Friendship Farm.

HARPS is a non-profit organization that works to save mistreated horses. Schone said many of the horses were weak from starvation when taken to his farm, but have responded well to treatment.

Wietholder was found not guilty of cruelty to animals charges a year ago, but he spent two different stints in the Adams County Jail last year in connection with unlawful disposal of dead animal charges.

He will be sentenced in Quincy March 25 for unlawful disposal of a dead animal, his ninth such conviction since 1989, according to court records.

One of the aggravated cruelty to animals charges, a Class 4 felony punishable by up to three years in prison if Wietholder is convicted, alleges Wietholder failed to provide necessary care to a stallion that developed Proud Flesh, a large growth on its right rear leg.

The other felony count alleges Wietholder intentionally confined the same horse in its own manure, causing serious injury to the horse's leg.

Schone said the stallion will require at least three surgeries to save its life and constant care for it to recover, but the horse appeared to have a chance to live.

Another mare appeared to have two bad legs and could hardly walk when transported to a trailer Tuesday, he said. Schone said he was unsure of the mare's chances of survival.

The misdemeanor charge of cruel treatment alleges Wietholder starved 18 horses, while one of the violation of owner's duties counts alleges he failed to provide quality wholesome food and water to 18 horses.

The five unlawful disposal of dead animal counts stem from a March 7 investigation at Wietholder's farm in which investigators said they found the remains of five horses.

Case Updates

Lawrence Wietholder pleaded not guilty to the murder of his wife at his arraignment Wednesday morning in Schuyler County.

Wietholder retained his attorney, Tim Reuschel, the morning of the arraignment.

Reuschel, who declined to comment on the case, said at the arraignment he needed time to prepare for the preliminary hearing. The date of the preliminary hearing will be set Oct. 13.

Wietholder was charged with second-degree murder Saturday after he confessed to drowning his wife.

Schuyler County Sheriff Donald Bruner, who heard the confession, found JoAnn's body in a barn on the Wietholder property.

The prosecuting attorney for the case, Brenda Swedberg, said Wietholder was charged with second-degree murder because there was no evidence the murder was premeditated.

Wietholder was previously convicted of animal abuse for his treatment of horses in Illinois. He was also charged in August with eight counts of felony animal abuse after authorities investigated his Greentop, Mo., farm and he was scheduled to appear in court on those charges Nov. 8. JoAnn was also to appear on misdemeanor charges for animal abuse Nov. 8.

Source: Kirksville Daily Express - Oct 4, 2006
Update posted on Oct 4, 2006 - 7:25PM

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The wife of a northeast Missouri horse farmer who has made the news often regarding animal abuse allegations is dead.

When officials arrived on the scene they found the body of Joann Wietholder, drowned on the property she and her husband owned located in rural Greentop, Missouri.

After further investigation Schuyler County Sheriff Donald Bruner made an arrest. He took Mrs. Wietholder's husband, Lawrence "Bud" Wietholder in custody on suspicion of murder.

Both Bud and Joann Wietholder have been under intense scrutiny over the past few months as they faced animal abuse charges in connection with the alleged mistreatment of horses owned by the couple.

The family believes the pressure from organizations such as the hoofed animal rescue and protection society and the human society was the driving force behind the murder.

"I guess we're here today trying to clean up a mess that a couple of organizations more or less created. If they were held as accountable as what they want to try to hold two people, I wish they'd clean up their own mess. They've created monsters out of people and don't realize what today is. Apparently now livestock has more precedence than human life and family," said Dave and James Wietholder.

Wietholder's sons would also like to thank all of those who have continued to stand behind their family and hope that the truth will be revealed.

Wietholder is currently being held in Adair County under suicide watch, where he will remain until officials feel he is no longer a threat to himself.

He has been officially charged and is being held on a $5 (m) bond.

"Class A felony of a murder in the second degree and it stems from his wife drowning in a pond," said Schuyler County Sheriff Donnie Bruner.

An autopsy will be performed Monday, and an arraignment is expected to take place early this week.

Source: KTOV - Sept 30, 2006
Update posted on Oct 2, 2006 - 8:57AM

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A former Camp Point farmer awaiting sentencing in Adams County on animal cruelty charges faces more legal problems in northeast Missouri.

Bud Weitholder has since moved to Adair County.

The local sheriff's department recently raided his new horse farm.

The Missouri Humane Society and Animal Rescue helped inspect 52 horses.

They sent eight of them away for medical treatment.

The horses had several skin problems caused by inadequate nutrition and their ribs were showing.

The rest of the animals will be left with Wietholder and the sheriff's office will continue to make regular health and safety checkups.

Weitholder faces new charges of animal neglect.

There will be a hearing in 30 days to determine what to do with his horses. To read more about this most recent case, click here.

Source: KHQA - July 13, 2006
Update posted on Jul 17, 2006 - 6:00PM

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Horse farmer Lawrence �Bud� Wietholder of Camp Point, Ill., was found guilty by an Adams County jury on two counts of felony animal abuse and one misdemeanor charge.

The jury deliberated 10 hours before deciding the verdict Friday, after 12 days of what was described as �often tedious and contentious days of trial.�

Last March, authorities impounded 19 horses from Wietholder�s herd of more than 300 at the 900-acre family farm in Camp Point. The horses were transported for rehabilitation at Schone�s Friendship Farm, Milan. Sixteen have since been adopted while three died.

Quad-Cities residents testifying included Deb Schone of the Milan farm.

Judge Bob Hardwick will sentence Wietholder in Quincy on April 27, and also ordered the farmer to undergo a psychiatric evaluation. He could face up to three years in prison on each felony conviction, and also be required to divest himself of the horses.

In the meantime, Wietholder has sold his Camp Point farm and moved his horses to the Table Green area of Schuyler County, Mo.

Source: Quad City Times - March 4, 2006
Update posted on Mar 5, 2006 - 9:50PM

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Lawrence "Bud" Wietholder's horse abuse case has been continued. Jury selection was supposed to begin January 8, 2006. He showed up to the trial, but his attorney said Wietholder has the flu and couldn't continue with the trial. He faces 10 counts of animal abuse -- including two felony charges.

Animal investigators removed 19 horses from his ranch last March 2005. Three didn't survive. Weitholder still owns nearly 300 horses.

Jury selection is set to begin February 14, 2006.

Source: WQAD News - January 8, 2006
Update posted on Jan 12, 2006 - 5:36PM

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Two additional felony counts will be filed against a rural Camp Point man charged in an animal abuse case involving several horses earlier this year.

On Tuesday, the Adams County states attorney filed amended charges from an indictment handed up by an Adams County grand jury.

That means instead of two felony counts of animal abuse, Bud Wietholder now faces four felony counts and seven misdemeanors.

He�ll be arraigned on June 7, 2005

Source: KHQA - May 10, 2005
Update posted on May 10, 2005 - 5:58PM

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While the wheels of justice turn slowly in Adams County, Ill., another horse rescued from the farm of Lawrence �Bud� Wietholder has died. The stallion that had a football-sized growth on one leg died April 10. A bacterial infection had spread through his bloodstream, liver and abdomen, according to a necropsy performed by John Vacek, a veterinarian from Elgin, Ill.

�We are all literally in mourning,� said Donna Ewing, the president of the Hooved Animal Rescue and Protection Society, or HARPS, of Barrington, Ill. �This was so unnecessary. He would have been a perfectly healthy horse without the abuse. We had high hopes we could have saved him.�

The organization worked with the Illinois Department of Agriculture to impound 19 horses March 15 from Wietholder�s farm at Camp Point, Ill. The animals were transferred to Schone�s Friendship Farm in rural Milan, Ill.

Now, 17 horses remain after officials euthanized a malnourished buckskin mare. The most severely injured survivor is a bay quarterhorse mare with abscesses on both front feet. �We try to manage her pain, and she has a special deluxe stall with rubber mats on the floor and about a foot of sawdust,� said Deb Schone. �It�s real cushy and comfy.�

Back in Adams County, Assistant State�s Attorney Jennifer Cifaldi has filed a request seeking $19,100 from Wietholder to help care for the animals. If that petition is granted, he will have five days to pay the fine or surrender ownership of the horses, she said.

A hearing was held Tuesday, but it was continued until Tuesday. �It�s great that people are donating, and we hope people continue to donate, but we believe he should not rely on charity to pay for his animals,� she said.

Wietholder is finishing a 30-day jail term in Quincy resulting from 2004 animal abuse charges. He also faces two felony charges and eight misdemeanors stemming from the March 15 incident.

The 17 surviving horses continue to recover, and donations are still coming in. Kent Feeds of Muscatine, Iowa, donated 240 bags of livestock feed. Schone said most of that gift will be held for those who end up adopting the animals if Wietholder�s ownership is legally ended.

Donations may be mailed to: HARPS Horse Rescue Fund, BankOrion, 3907 16th St., Moline, IL 61265.

Source: Quad-City Times - April 17, 2005
Update posted on Apr 18, 2005 - 1:24AM

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A farmer from Adams County, Ill., is spending his nights in a Quincy jail while the horses he is accused of abusing continue to recover in the Quad-City area.

Lawrence �Bud� Wietholder, 59, received the maximum sentence March 25 on misdemeanor charges of unlawful disposal of animals during 2004. Jennifer Cifaldi, the Adams County assistant state�s attorney who is prosecuting the case, said Wietholder is spending 30 days in jail, but he is allowed to tend his farm during the day.

Wietholder also was fined $1,500 and court costs and placed on probation for two years. Also, he must at any given time allow state inspectors on the 900-acre livestock farm he operates with his wife in Camp Point, near Quincy.

He will make an initial appearance April 4 in Adams County Circuit Court on 10 charges Cifaldi filed March 18. The most serious of those are two felony counts of aggravated cruelty to animals, which could result in a prison term of one to three years if he is convicted. The other eight charges are misdemeanors, similar to a series of which have been filed against Wietholder over a period of almost 20 years.

At the same time, the Illinois Department of Agriculture is defending its March 15 decision to impound 19 of Wietholder�s horses. Spokeswoman Chris Herbert said Wietholder has appealed and a hearing is set for April 13-14 in Springfield. That hearing originally was planned for Monday, but it was continued at the request of the defense, she added.

If a state hearing officer decides the agriculture department was justified in its actions, Herbert said Wietholder can appeal to the department�s director, Charles Hartke.

Cifaldi said the horses rescued March 15 were those found by state investigators to be most in need. She pointed out that the Wietholders own 300 to 400 more horses, including many pregnant mares.

The Hooved Animal Rescue and Protection Society, or HARPS, of Barrington, Ill., worked in cooperation with the Department of Agriculture on the rescue operation. The animals were transferred to Schone�s Friendship Farm in rural Milan.

Ronda Ewing, the HARPS director of development and a state-licensed investigator, said one buckskin mare had to be euthanized and a bay mare may be put down as well. The bay�s forelegs are badly damaged, she explained.

But the 17 remaining horses are improving weekly. �They�ll be stunted, but they will regain their full health, if not their full size,� she said.

A stallion with a red, bulbous growth the size of a football on one leg was transferred Monday to Barrington. That growth was supposed to be removed by a Quad-City veterinarian, but Ewing explained that the surgery will be done at an equine hospital closer to the HARPS farm. She expects the procedure will cost $3,000 and require one year of post-operative bandaging.

Residents of the Quad-City region have been generous with their donations to help the animals. Ewing estimates that more than $10,000 has been raised to date. Donations may be mailed to: HARPS Horse Rescue Fund, BankOrion, 3907 16th St., Moline, IL 61265. For more information on the horses, call HARPS at (847) 382-0503.

Source: Quad-City Times - March 29, 2005
Update posted on Apr 1, 2005 - 9:43AM

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	WHIG - March 19, 2005
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Horse neglect - 19 seizedCamp Point, IL (US)

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Horse neglect - 19 seized
Camp Point, IL (US)