Eight malnourished horses were found on a 40-acre ranch northeast of Sanger that is owned by a couple who a decade ago won a $40 million California Lottery jackpot.
On Wednesday, Fresno County Sheriff's deputies arrested the owner of the horses, Jose Francisco Romo, 47. He was booked into the Fresno County Jail on felony animal cruelty charges. He was released from jail on a $40,000 bond Wednesday night. Bail was listed at $40,000.
There were 11 horses total, and Romo signed over ownership of all of them to the Central California Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, said Beth Caffrey, the SPCA's human education administrator. Eight of the horses were removed Wednesday, she said. The last three will be removed today.
It is at least the third time in two months that local officials have come across herds of malnourished and mistreated horses in Fresno County.
In December, SPCA officials found more than 30 mistreated horses at farms in north Clovis and near Riverdale. Caffrey also said two other investigations are in the works, and the SPCA has quietly taken in other stray and mistreated horses.
Caffrey called the spate of cases "the worst in 40 years, going back through all our history."
In the most recent incident, Caffrey said the malnourished horses all scored either a one or between a one and a two on the Henneke Body Condition Scoring System. That means they are in "poor" or "very thin" condition.
The horses were on a property that abuts the Friant-Kern Canal near Clinton and Riverbend avenues.
Melanie Skadden, a neighbor of Romo's, called the SPCA after seeing several horses in poor condition on the property.
Skadden said Romo and his wife, Trudy, moved to the home not long after winning the lottery in 2001.
California Lottery officials on Wednesday wouldn't confirm any information on the Romos, saying it was private. But a woman who identified herself as Trudy Romo's mother — and who lived at a central Fresno property listed as owned by the Romos — confirmed that her daughter and son-in-law were the 2001 SuperLotto Plus winners. She also said the couple had separated, and she did not know Jose Romo had been arrested. She declined to say more.
Neither Jose nor Trudy Romo could be reached to comment Wednesday.
Skadden said there were once 12 horses on the property, but the skeletal remains of one was found along the canal.
Last Friday, she said, a neighbor called her and expressed concern about the health of the horses. Skadden and her husband looked at the horses and were so concerned they called the SPCA.
The investigation started Saturday, sheriff's officials said. SPCA officials were at the site both Saturday and Sunday to confirm the allegation of neglected horses.
By Wednesday morning, the SPCA had reported the incident to sheriff's deputies and requested their help in removing the starving horses.
According to information from the sheriff's department, Jose Romo was at the property — which includes a home — when deputies arrived.
In December, what was called one of the largest cases of animal cruelty seen in the Fresno area in recent years resulted in the SPCA taking 18 abused horses and euthanizing another from a ranch on Shepherd Avenue just west of Temperance Avenue in north Clovis.
Less than a week later, a herd of starving and dead horses was found on a farm near Riverdale. Caffrey at the time said 14 horses were found hungry and dehydrated, and two had to be euthanized.
Four horse carcasses also were discovered on the property when the SPCA arrived.
Caffrey said the SPCA still has all the horses from the Clovis farm. The horse owner, Dana Thomas Kahler, was booked into the Fresno County Jail. On Wednesday, an official with the Fresno County District Attorney's Office said prosecutors are still waiting on paperwork from investigators before proceeding with a case against Kahler.
Horses from the Riverdale-area farm are being cared for by the owner, but under monitoring by the SPCA. That investigation continues, Caffrey said.
The horses taken to the SPCA on Wednesday will be cared for with an eye toward adoption, she said.
Caffrey cited the poor economy for the explosion in malnourished and mistreated horses. In addition, she said, the dry winter has kept pastures thin. In years past, the animals could survive on grasses nourished by rain.
"It's probably going to get worse," she said. "That's what we're terrified of."
Please let investigations confirm these were STRAYS as wealthy or not this would be nothing short of an atrocity if it proves to be WILLFUL NEGLIGENCE.
These type of animal/pet owners are a DISCRACE to our communities. Like dead beat parents, their pictures should be publicly posted. They should
never be allowed to have any type of animals ever again. period.
Sad really . . .
Looks like another lottery winner out of money.
I always knew that owning horses was an expensive hobby,but this is ridiculous.Why own them if you aren't going to take care of them?
He malnourished animals, how sad. If you decide to own animals, for God's sake, care for them. Just like children, they cannot be discarded away. Whoever makes a concious decision to have them, better be ready to handle the responsibility, they are not commodities to be ill treated and discarded at will.
The human race is running amok....
Stray cats or dogs I can understand, but stray HORSES? The mind, it boggles.
The courts need to rewrite animal abuse laws. Take the horses and throw the owners in jail. I see this stuff on animal planet and all it takes is a call to the spca. Vet bills are very expensive, but there's no excuse for starving an animal.
I have no tolerance for people who abuse animals. I wish they could starve this guy til his ribs are sticking out as far as those horses' were and then give him 20 years in the slammer to think about it.
What a bunch of morons. Not only for abusing animals that trusted them, but apparently blowing a $40 million lotto jackpot. If we do the math, they probably ended up with $10 million net (after taxes), if they took it in a lump sum. How in the hell do you blow $10 million in 10 years? Christ almighty; that's blowing through a million a year for a decade. I don't think I could spend that much if I tried...
If you pick the wrong finacial advisor and don't pay enough attention how your money is invested,it would be pretty easy to blow through that kind of money.My own personal opinion of financial advisers is most are parastes.If they were any good at their job,they would be retired and living on a south pacific island enjoying the money they made.
thats what the good ones do, they find a lotto winner, and end up on a tropical island with the money the lotto winner lost.
i actually have sympathy for the lotto winners,... now hear me out. befe you curse me.
they prob are just every day scmoes like you ands me, and winning the lotto is supposed to be the best thing in their lives right?
look at them now! like some one said " how the hell " they are prob asking the same questions of themselves. 12 horses, why have 12, when you could have 1, and see if you like the responsibilty.
because theres no one to say no to you any more. and as you are a lotto winner EVERYONE will extend you credit until you are broke.
imagine winning $10M clear and being told you need to go on a budget! wellthse people obiously needed to be told that.
oh i fee lfor the horse, but there are many more mistreated horses out there, what brought this to ourr attention? the fact it was a lotto winner.
what about the 100's of other mistreated horses that have owners that didnt win lotto? do we care about them? do we hear?
sure its a tradgedy, and they should have sold or given them away to good homes before they got to this state if they couldnt afford to keep them.
i aint condemning the people, o ill pity them., and ill look at their situation and use it as a tough lesson about what not to do if i strike it rich.
That would be a good "start".
"Christ Almighty" probably had nothing to do with this. That is why there called "morons".
yes,could'nt agree more, this just reinforces my notion that if money comes to fast,
then you need to slow down. they should never be permitted to own animals again,of any kind.
philly. eagles quarterback vick is still trying to get court to allow him to have a dog.
no mike, you're lucky you still have a high paying job.
sav. see above, need to go slow.
heheh i see my post was 10 min after yours., i was prob typing out mine when you posted yours!i do tend to take time over what i write, maybe oneday ill learn to hit spell check to!
i aint forgiving them their poor treatment, but i think i can see ; especially when i hear all the stories about lotto wins gone wrong, how people get into this mess.
they have to remember animals cant fight back, or fend for themselves. it is a responsibility.
so a lotto motto could be
god give me the luck of a win and the wisdom to handle it.
Thank goodness someone intervened for the horses .
I wondered what happened to this couple. They don't go into detail, but I assume it didn't end well.
The article doesn't indicate that either of the lottery jackpot winning Romos are no longer multi-millionaires.
Having been involved with horse rescues from this type of situation, I can only say throw them in jail and throw away the key. Do you know what a horse with a score of 1 looks like? It looks like a walking skeleton. If the horse can even walk. There is no excuse on God's green Earth that will justify starving horses. Period.
There are too many rescues out there that will help when you cannot take care of your animals. They are glad to help. If the rescue you call cannot take the horse/s, they will network with other rescues. No excuse for this type of cruel inhumanity.
This type of story makes me alternate between wanting to puke and wanting to shoot someone.
I say shoot 'em and then puke on 'em.
Perfect! Then I'll kick 'em for extra measure. Once for each horse.
I am glad they took the horses to a safe place away from the cruelty. Hopefully the horses will improve and get their health back.-weshar75
Sickening story... Running out of money (assuming they did) is no excuse for this. They could have easily put them up for adoption instead of letting them die a slow miserable death. And if they were still rich, well that's a whole other level sickening.
I love amimals, this story is beyond words for me.
what losers !!!
+1 to the rest of you.
They should get the book thrown at them. Laws on this are not fair considering they might have let a horse starve to death. If you can't handle sell them. Isn't there always a market for them?
if you cant handle them give them away.
I DID give one away, post divorce. I could not afford him anymore, or the two others. My daughter took one, sold the other to a great forever home with stipulations, and gave the 3rd one away with stipulations. None of the stipulations can be enforced, but the homes were trusted and both horses are still there. The giveaway is living the fat and happy life in a large pasture full of 'throw aways'. It was not easy finding someone trusted to give your horse away, and I nearly euthanized this one before finding his home. The rescues were full and could not take him. There are thousands of sad stories of giveaways being sold to slaughter. And truth be told, there is a current fraud investigation involving off the track thoroughbreds being given to a woman who promised to retrain and find new careers for the horses, only to find out she's been selling them to meat buyers for a nice profit. We are talking thousands of ottb's given to this woman that wound up on slaughter trucks to Canada and Mexico. I'm not sure what is worse, starvation or the slaughter route. I could go on and on about the horse slaughter industry, but just search youtube. It's a disgusting and cruel way for a horse to spend the last few days of their lives.
I sometimes wonder if im on the right planet ...