Saturday, December 10, 2016

California: Jonathan Garcia, 37, sentenced in Petaluma horse abuse case in which he dumped his injured, starving horse on the side of the road and drove off

CALIFORNIA -- An East Bay man was sentenced Thursday for abandoning an injured and emaciated horse along a country road in Petaluma.

Jonathan Garcia, 37, of Pinole received six months in jail with the possibility of work release or electronic home confinement, and three years probation during which he may not own a horse.


Garcia was "facing up to three years in prison" but that never happens. What will likely happen is that Garcia will be allowed to stay home with an ankle monitor (and allowed to go to work, etc.) or he'll be allowed to serve his county jail time on the weekends (you show up Friday evening and stay until Sunday evening and then you're allowed to leave). Plus, with "good behavior" allowances, if he is made to serve jail time at the county jail, he'll likely only have to do 1/3 of it -- two months. So much for the threat of "three years in PRISON".

He also was ordered to pay more than $4,000 in restitution to animal advocates and the county to cover veterinary costs for the horse, Jerome, who was nursed back to health and has since been adopted by a Bodega Bay woman.

Garcia remains free on bail pending his January turn-in date.

After the horse recovered at a rescue, gaining 200-lbs

The more than 25-year-old Appaloosa was abandoned in July 2015, not far from speeding traffic on Lakeville Highway. He was malnourished and had a roofing nail lodged in his hoof.

A woman walking her dog in the area spotted him being led out of a horse trailer and abandoned on the side of the road. He was injured and stumbling around due to the hoof injury.

An investigation led to Garcia, a handyman, who pleaded no contest to felony animal abuse and misdemeanor abandonment.

(Petaluma360 - Dec 9, 2016)

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