CALIFORNIA -- The Taft man arrested on animal cruelty charges in April for allegedly mistreating horses at a stable west of Taft has pleaded no contest to one count of felony cruelty to animals.
Two of the horses seized from Romo had to be euthanized.
"They were suffering terribly," Kern County Department of Public Health Spokeswoman Kim Rodriguez said Tuesday.
A third horse, 15 years old, was adopted out, Rodriguez said
Two other felony counts were dropped as a part of a plea agreement entered in Taft Branch of Kern County Superior Court on Tuesday.
Terms of the plea agreement were not disclosed.
Hector Romo, 48, will be sentenced on Aug. 21, according to court records.
Romo was arrested by Kern County Animal Control officers who were sent to the stables to investigate a complaint of malnourished horses.
Rodriguez said at the time that the officers were at first going to issue a notice of correction to Romo, who she said was a unlicensed animal rescue worker.
The horses in a stable operated by Romo were malnourished but recovering, Rodriguez said, and had been checked previously by animal control officers
However, he was arrested him on the animal cruelty after he admitted under questioning that three badly malnourished horses in a separate stable were his, Rodriguez said.
Those horses were seized by animal control officers to be treated and tested.
Romo is free on $15,000 bail.
(Taft Midway Driller - July 24, 2012)
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