Sunday, McLean County Sheriff's deputies arrested 30 year old Curtis Cleary after he allegedly lashed out against a woman renting a room in his home.
He's charged with aggravated assault, discharge of a fire arm, and possession of a firearm with no FOID card.
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| Curtis Cleary |
While on his property, deputies found dozens of animal carcasses, mainly dogs and cats which appeared to have died from starvation.
Further investigation revealed Cleary's involvement with "Don't Bully My Breed," an animal welfare organization with a Peoria branch. Cleary lived and worked with the organizations founder, Catherine Hedges, inside the home, and he took over after she died in 2011.
Tobein Tegard owns Wedrose Acres, an animal farm sanctuary nearby and knew Hedges. After she died, Tegard claims she suspected animal neglect, but had no proof.
"After her death he cut off all ties with her friends and kept taking in animals, and people would call and say we have a place for this animal and he'd never get back to them," she said.
The McLean County Sheriff believes this relationship might have allowed Cleary to obtain the animals. A volunteer with "Don't Bully My Breed" said the animals were not a part of their organization and claimed Cleary owned the animals.
The volunteer told WMBD 31 that Cleary was "removed from leadership months ago" and is no longer associated with the group.
Cleary is free on bond and will be arraigned in court November 16th. The investigation is ongoing.
Linda Kreuger, president of Wish Bone Canine Rescue in Bloomington, thinks laws should change to keep closer tabs on people with an abundance of animals.
Maybe there's a process that needs to be improved upon so that we can do more checking up on families such as this," she said.
Tegard has her own opinion on what should happen.
"I'd like to put him some place and starve him to death," she said. "I mean that's terrible to say about another human being, but if you could see it-- it's just terrible."
(centralillinoisproud.com - November 9, 2012)
