State Police File Charges Against Farm Owner For Neglecting Horses
DERRY TOWNSHIP (KDKA) -- State police have filed charges against a farm owner in Westmoreland County, who is accused of starving and neglecting horses.
The criminal complaint says 60-year-old Faun Dillon is accused of depriving the horses of food, water and medical care. The animals were also housed in deplorable conditions.
Police say they were alerted to the situation by the barn manager, and they contend that as a result of the neglect, two of the five horses died.
KDKA was there when police and a Westmoreland County humane officer seized the horses from Dillon's property in Derry Township earlier this month.
One of the five was already dead; it's body hidden on the property. Officials were trying to save the others' lives.
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"We've been working since August here, and things haven't gotten to the point where it's adequate," Jan Dillion, of the Humane Society of Westmoreland County, said earlier this month.
One by one, the horses were lead out and taken to the Second Chance Equine rescue facility in Norvelt.
Of the four horses rescued that day, a second one did not survive.
Faun Dillon is now charged with five counts of animal cruelty. She facing fines and will have to cover the medical costs of the surviving horses.