Kudos to the LaGrange County Sheriffs Department, Prosecutors office & the Honorable Judge Brown. Here is a copy of the article for those that dont subscribe: LAGRANGE — A rural LaGrange County man who twice has been in trouble with the law for the way he treated horses was sentenced to three years in prison, with one year suspended, and ordered to never again own an animal. Last winter, state authorities discovered David Schmucker, then 40, of 3940 W. U.S. 20, had allowed several horses on his farm to starve to death. Schmucker was arrested by LaGrange County sheriff’s deputies after a state Board of Animal Health inspector visited his farm several times and discovered four horses that died from starvation and dehydration. The inspector also found several other horses on the farm that were described in a report as being in “very bad physical shape.” Schmucker appeared in court Monday morning minus the Amish beard and clothing he wore at the time of his arrest. Instead, Schmucker was wearing English-style clothing, and had a mustache and an English-style haircut. After his sentencing, Schmucker said he was no longer a member of the Amish church. Schmucker was initially charged with four counts of cruelty to an animal, one count of failing to properly dispose of a dead animal and one count of harboring nonimmunized dogs. Earlier this summer, he agreed to plead guilty to one count of cruelty to an animal in return for the other charges being dropped. LaGrange County Superior Court Judge George Brown took a stern tone with Schmucker during the sentencing, saying he showed no remorse for allowing the horses to starve and he misled authorities by trying to shift the blame for the horses’ deaths away from himself. Schmucker previously was arrested in May 2007 and convicted in October of that same year on one count of cruelty to a animal, one count of harboring a nonimmunized dog and one count of failure to dispose of a dead animal. The cruelty count was dismissed, and the failure to dispose of a dead animal charge was admended to a misdemeanor. He was found guilty of the misdemeanor charge of failure to dispose of a dead animal and harboring a nonimmunized dog, and placed on probation. He also was banned from owning animals during probation. This time, saying that he found no mitigating circumstances and taking into account Schmucker’s previous conviction, Brown sentenced Schmucker to three years in prison, with one year suspended. He also banned Schmucker from ever again owning “any vertebrate animal.” Schmucker will be allowed to serve his sentence by participating in the county’s work-release program. He will be allowed to work a job by day and spend the rest of his time incarcerated in the LaGrange County Jail. Preventing Schmucker from ever again owning animals was important to Marge Malone, founder of LaGrange County’s Ark Animal Sanctuary. Malone was in the audience Monday morning at Schmucker’s sentencing and later said she was was “happy” with the sentence issued by Brown. “It sends a message that animal cruelty will not be tolerated,” she said.
Posted on: Tue, 28 Oct 2014 14:01:51 +0000
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