Although this is no longer news because it happened in May-June 2014, the sentence of 15 years in confinement handed down to this fraudulent and cruel shelter manager, which appears to be a fixed term with no parole, is very long. I welcome it but it seems to be unusual to me bearing in mind the general state of some shelters where animals are killed needlessly.
On release she’ll be on probation for 10 years. She also has to pay money back to the people she stole from and pay a $30k fine. There will never be restitution for the cats and dogs she killed.
Lowanda “Peanut” Kilby was convicted of taking donations from the public for the Lucky Dog and Lucky Kitty programs at the shelter she managed – Boggs Mountain Animal Shelter – and then euthanizing most of the dogs and cats in the program. She’d promised new homes for them on the website and took a special fee to guarantee rehoming and for the cat or dog not to be euthanized.
Heartless or what? She was charged with 60 counts of fraudulent behaviour, including theft and racketeering and was convicted on all of them. It sounds like she is a member of the mafia. She cried at the sentencing hearing (crocodile tears to try and get a more lenient sentence?).
She was caught out by a secret camera set up by Fox News (Fox 5). There must have been rumblings of wrong doing for a while and investigative journalists caught her out.
The trial took place earlier this year (May 2014) and the jury took a mere four hours to come to their guilty verdict, a sure sign that the evidence was overwhelming. He defence lawyer had said they would appeal but doubt that happened – total waste of time.
Ms “Peanut” (as I’ll call her) claimed in her defence that a co-worker stole the money.
Please search using the search box at the top of the site. You are bound to find what you are looking for.
Completely missed this one. I’m glad they threw the book at her. It was justified.
I think it is good for shelter standards. It does make me think of all the charities which are borderline scams. The charity business is very profitable.
Michael Where was this place? I must have missed this story! Wow if they handed out a sentence like this for PEANUT what kind of sentence would they give Julianne Westberry in Boggs Mountain (I bet its not in SC. Even bigger fish how about PETA that pretty much what I hear their MO is!
Tiger, GA
My research indicates it is in RABUN COUNTY, Ga. Julianne would have got a decent sentence if she was tried by the same judge. However, I have a feeling that the 15 year sentence was based upon the breach of trust (financially) more than the abuse of pets (euthanasia when unnecessary). I’d like to see the judge’s summing up to see where the emphasis lay.
I agree Michael. In my opinion though Jullianne Westbeery is even worse she solicited donations in every venue. And she did not even buy food or litter for the cats she promised to care for and find homes for, She let them die slow tortured deaths not even the blessing of the quick euthanasia! She is the more of the evils!
Good point. Her crime is very similar – fraud combined with cat cruelty. I hope we hear what happens and if convicted what her sentence is.
Oh A lot of us have plans to be at the trail of Julianne Westberry we even have tee shirts supporting the cats that survived. Hopefully Elisa will announce soon when her trail begins!
Fantastic. If anyone has a video camera of any sort, you might create a few video clips not of the trial because you can’t video trials but before the trial, outside. It would be very interesting to me. Good luck with it.
I’m so glad she was caught and punished! Not only killing innocent animals and stealing the money meant to keep them safe, but trying to put the blame on a co worker. What a poor excuse for a human being she is.
Hooray. It’s good to set precedents for stiff penalties. It will pave the way to slowly get the message that animals are humans too. 🙂
Totally agree. We need stiff penalties, as you say, for animal abuse issues. I don’t know how much weight the judge gave to the fraud element of this case when deciding the sentence. It would have been nice to know whether he/she rated the fraud element (money) as more important than animal welfare. The amount of money involved was not enormous so I believe the animal welfare issue was a key factor and of course the breach of trust.
Good riddance!
I don’t want this creature in my world for a long time.
Rudolph’s comment is so accurate! This needs to be an example to the world that anipal fraud/cruelty is something that needs to be given a CAPITAL punishment status worldwide! The anipals deserve to live and be well taken care of just as our children and elderly are. NO EXCUSES!!!!!!
It is another more extreme example of animal abuse. I have a warped theory that the carcasses of euthanised cats and dogs are sold to pet food manufacturers and other commercial enterprises. There is some evidence of it. If so it totally undermines the entire animal shelter process in the USA as it promotes killing.
http://cat-chitchat.pictures-of-cats.org/2008/07/no-kill-cat-shelters.html
…I have a warped theory that the carcasses of euthanised cats and dogs are sold to pet food manufacturers and other commercial enterprises.
I have seen this very thing, Michael! While (excuse me, your being, like, English and all that stuff like that, you know, prob’ly I should say, like, you know, ‘whilst’ when, like, speaking to you!) living in Morgan County, Colorado, U.S.A. there was a Pet Food Rendering Plant located about 5 miles South of the City of Fort Morgan.
(please forgive me – I was today shortly exposed to young persons, and their modern dialect. Just to qualify ‘them’, it was -14 degree F outside with a 35 mph breeze, they were wearing “Shorts” (shorts pants) and “Tee-Shirts”, and purchasing Ice Cream Milkshakes. North Dakotan kids are a pretty damned healthy crowd, in general. I was, and still am amazed)
The company I refer to picked up every dead, fallen, sick (they would “dispatch” them) cow, deer, skunk, possum, rabbit, cat, dog, antelope, buffalo, and maybe even a few unfortunate transient hitchhikers.
They had a giant pressure-cooker (vat) – (it appeared to be at least 20+ feet across, and near as tall) into they would scoop every ‘thing’, and just start pressuring and steaming them into a very profitable goop.
This giant “pot” was as ugly as your imagination can summon, as was the facility, the storage lot, the delivery trucks (open dump trucks with a cable winch to pull the deceased animals into it, at least the ones that could not just be tossed in with a shovel or a bit of muscle)
The “storage lot” was a tumble of every dead animal you can imagine, piled 20 feet high. Yes, it included Fluffies, and Spots; cats and dogs.
Result? Pure protein, and pure nourishment for the undiscriminating obligate carnivore. It was macerated by large blades in the bottom, and they were able to subtract certain components of the mix for specific uses and purposes (fats for this, oils for that, hair/fur for felt (Bruce tips his cowboy hat), collagen for further refinement into cosmetics, etc, etc)
You could always tell a “cook” day there, a few miles before driving past – depending on the wind. It was a horrible, HORRIBLE ‘oily’ smell that made me roll up the windows and drive as fast as I could past the place. (My single visit there, just being a curious kind ‘o guy, made me want to burn my clothing after I left. The only worse odor I have ever, ever experienced was mistakenly petting a Billy Goat, and it took near a week for that odor to leave my hand)
I used to visit a fellow who was a Veterinarian at a very large cattle feedlot / “finishing” operation near Fort Morgan. He also supplied “material” – downed or euthanized cattle – to the rendering plant (known locally as the “Cat and Dog Food Factory”) I visited him quite often, as he enjoyed gin as much as myself, had a tremendous Model “D” Steinway piano that he would let me play for hours on end.
We spoke of the mixing of the euthanized animals into the “pot”. His claim – and he would have known – was that the pet-food producers preferred “protein” from such a mix, as it added dilute amounts of pharmaceutical compounds that actually made pets feel good.
There is a reason your cat asks for “Meow Mix” by name.
I have it on the best of authority.
I read your comment word for word – no skimming because I found it very interesting. Do you know of animal shelters who have commercial contracts with businesses like the Cat and Dog Food Factory. I ask because road kill and livestock which is considered unfit for human consumption is known to go into pet food but for shelters to be involved in this would create a massive conflict of interest. I’d like to know more about that.
“Whilst” is a bit posh for me. I sometimes use it but when I do I feel like I am not connecting with the general public well enough.
Such a case and punishment is unbelievable to me as a Indian living in India.15 years is a very long term for a crime on animals while many human killers go scot free or serve small sentences for lack of evidence in my country. I personally feel the jury has sent the right message towards animal fraud and cruelty in a “First world ” country.Crimes against pets or animals by humans go unnoticed or is treated as a minor demeanour in most country’s .Dogs or cats being poisoned is not uncommon .