Billie Deann Vandergriff, 49, was charged Tuesday in Oklahoma County District Court with two counts of felony animal cruelty, records show.
A deputy sheriff checking on a neglected horse Dec. 10 in the 8500 block of N Dobbs Road said the horse appeared to be malnourished with “relatively clean water” but no feed, according to a probable cause affidavit.
“The horse appeared to be very feeble, extremely underweight, skeletal bones visible through the skin,” the deputy wrote in a probable cause affidavit.
The deputy said he observed a burial site in the front yard of the residence where another horse recently had been buried. The horse died in a stall lying in a pile of its own feces, the affidavit shows.
Vandergriff could not produce any receipts for feed or hay, despite claiming she purchased the items at a local feed store, the deputy reported.
Employees of the store did not recognize the woman as a customer when the deputy showed them a photo of her, the affidavit states.
Vandergriff said she had never had either of the horses treated by a veterinarian, the deputy reported.
She has prior convictions in Oklahoma County for assault and battery upon a police officer, malicious injury and destruction, and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, court records show.
(newsok.com - Jan 13, 2013)
