Fulton horse trainer and stable owner Lisa Leogrande has seen justice done, though it was done too late for dozens of horses.
A jury in Greene County in eastern New York Wednesday convicted race horse breeder and owner Ernest Paragallo of 33 misdemeanor counts of animal cruelty.
Leogrande discovered horses belonging to Paragallo in a “kill pen” — a last stop for horses too ill or weak to live. She said at the time (our article on her was erased in a hard drive crash that wiped out six months’ worth of stories) that the horses were malnourished, covered in lice and sores.
She took three of the horses home to Fulton. An animal rescue organization took four others.
Complaints reached the police and shortly thereafter, Paragallo was arrested. 170 horses were seized from his farm. Officials said many were in very bad shape. Some had to be euthanized because they could not be saved.
Greene County’s The Daily Mail reported that the district attorney said justice had been served, while Paragallo’s lawyer said that he would appeal.
Paragallo remains free on bail until his sentencing on May 18. He faces up to two years in jail on each of the 33 counts.
A gallery of photos from Leogrande’s Triple L Stables, showing the three horses she rescued and some general pictures of her boarding stable. The information about each picture was lost in the server crash mentioned above.
