Florida: Former horse rescue operator, Deanna Biscardi pleads guilty to animal cruelty and gets - what else - probation

FLORIDA -- Deanna Biscardi (aka Deanna Biscardi Haviland, Deanna Alma Biscardi), 43, former operator of Second Chance Horse Rescue of Wimauma, Fla., plead guilty to five counts of felony animal cruelty this week and was given two years' probation.

Biscardi was charged after she abandoned six horses on the rescue's leased property with no food. All the horses were described as skin and bones; of the six removed by deputies, only two survived.

This isn't her first run-in with the law: she was also arrested in 2010 for grand theft related to alleged disappearance of funds from the Oakleaf Athletic Association, of which she was treasurer. News reports from the time of her animal cruelty charges were unclear what became of the grand theft case.

 

  

Biscardi is due back in court later this month for a restitution hearing, according to Rate My Horse Pro.

(Paulick Report - March 11, 2015)

Earlier:

• Florida: Horse rescuer Deanna Biscardi, 43, arrested after starving her horses