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.
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.
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!
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.
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!
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 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.