Celebrating the 4th of July - Civil Asset Forfeiture Style

The gun toting fanatics of the Pennsylvania SPCA are patting themselves on the back this 4th of July.   Nothing says celebrating America's Independence like the seizure of private property and calling for more government regulation.  

The PA SPCA wants you to believe in this sob story they are spinning that the owner 'willingly' agreed to go out of business and sign over 11 beautiful dogs in immaculate condition and their puppies, just before the 4th of July.  This badge wearing, gun toting woman more than likely had something to do with that 'willingness' on the part of these dog's legal owner.  Take a long hard look at that picture.  The woman is an employee of a private non-profit organization that has the authority to wear and use a gun.  

They also want you to believe that this happy good looking well bred dog in the picture was 'suffering' by being owned by an American dog breeder.  

In fact, all of the dogs they stole and pictured in their sales pitch look fat, healthy, well groomed and well socialized.  

In less than 24 hours they raised over $10,000 in just one fundraiser alone and dozens of people are begging them for permission to buy one of the beautiful dogs seized.  Please pick me, please!  They cry.  

Clean coats, healthy weights, bright eyes, high dollar valuable purebreds = civil asset forfeiture for profit.

It will be interesting to see what their total $$$ haul ends up being from this raid alone.

I discuss many situations just like this in my recent book, YOU ARE NEXT:  A Battle Plan for Survival.  

Whether you are part of the 'nothing to hide' group or the 'do everything right' group, You Are Next. Animal owners do not understand until it's far too late. The majority of animals seized from owners today are taken because they are valuable, not because they were abused.

Of course, now that the PA SPCA took them away from their owner, hauled them away in hot vehicles on a hot July day, subjected them to seizure by strangers, take them to a noisy shelter and subject nursing mothers to the smells and sounds of a noisy shelter... now they are rubbing it in that TWO dogs 'overheated' and need medical attention.  THEY caused this situation to happen, they are responsible for the dogs overheating.  Notice, nothing else is wrong with the dogs they stole. 

Americans everywhere join the cyber lynch mobs celebrating the take down of another American dog breeder.  They only hurt themselves.  This can happen to anyone at any time.  All it takes is for you to own a valuable animal and YOU ARE NEXT.  

 

Retail Rescue's like this are the new mafia.  A dog is not abused just because its been bred.  Notice how they claim the dogs have been 'freed' from their legal owners.  That's an animal rights terrorist term. 

Listen to former U.S. Marshall John Bolin speak about the Animal Rights Mafia.  

The FBI of old called John Goodwin, member of the Animal Liberation Front (ALF), one of the top Animal Rights Terrorist threats in America.  Today John Goodwin is training YOUR law enforcement officers on tactics to take you down.  A five time convicted felon is YOUR animal officer's trainer.   What are you going to do about that? 

With the new CDC temporary ban on importing 'rescue' dogs from certain rabies prone countries, you will see an explosion of forced theft like this case.  Retail Rescue's are desperate for product to keep the profit coming in and Pennsylvania is a huge import state.  Pennsylvania is the state that currently has a rabies exposed foreign street dog currently running loose.  

Here's how it will play out:

• Take someone's well bred, healthy dogs (cute, fluffy and 'hot colors' is preferred)
• Make up a sob story about abuse
• Put a "donate here" button on every photo
• Raise over 10K in 24 hours

Unless you act in your communities to stop this, YOU ARE NEXT.  

#Retailrescue #AdoptingIsShopping

#DitchTheGuilt

#TakeBackTheConversation

#PuppyFairies #NoPetoverpopulation

#NeverGiveUp 

In 2015, Virginia Law Enforcement Once Again Embrace Terrorism

This week, Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring has announced the formation of the nation's first "Animal Law" unit that will function as part of the AG's office and spend as he says, "a portion of their time, as needed" to engage in prosecuting animal law cases in the state and will train local law enforcement on how to go after Virginia residents.  This fluff and mirrors sounds good but this group always existed informally.  Herring is just giving a little payback for the animal rights campaign donations he got.  The problem is, none of the people involved in this have any credentials in the animal field. In other words, they don't know jack about animals but they are going to use your own taxpayer money to come after you.

Leading this new state taxpayer funded group of vigilantes is animal rights extremist Michelle Welch who has no documented education in animals.  She does have a lot of fake puffery like being the "Vice President" of the Virginia Animal Fighting Taskforce.  It's fancy sounding but it means nothing.  This "task force" is a private company that was founded by high school dropout John Goodwin.  The John Goodwin.   The former member of the Animal Liberation Front (ALF) and convicted criminal with a record in five states.  That guy.  Turns out, he was exposed in a Wisconsin court in 2007 as a fake expert in dog fighting.  He was forced to admit, he's never seen a dog fight in his life.   What you should be really afraid of is the fact that this fake group is training law enforcement officers in their twisted views as to what constitutes animal fighting. 

"My goal is the abolition of all animal agriculture."

John "J.P." Goodwin, Manager of Animal Fighting Issues, HSUS

As the first act of this group, they will be partnering with Welch's pals at HSUS to send "fact sheets" to all Virginia's pet stores on the rights of consumers. The Humane Society of the United States, or HSUS as it's known is the worlds largest animal rights organization. What they are not, is an umbrella group for America's pet shelters. They in fact operate no pet shelters of any kind and never have. They are simply a group of Washington DC based lawyers who lobby for an all animal free vegan society.  They know nothing about pet stores and the breeders who supply them. 

While Virginia celebrates its animal rights domination, HSUS has taken a number of hits in other states in 2014.  Virginia based Feld Entertainment won a RICO Act lawsuit against them in federal court forcing them to a settlement.  HSUS and their buddies including the ASPCA and the Animal Welfare Institute had to pay the Ringling Bros circus $15.75 million and $9 million respectively after animal rights activists lied about how Ringling cares for their elephants.   Additionally Charity Navigator issued a donor advisory against the HSUS.

Aiding and abetting this new action is HSUS's new Virginia lobbyist, Matthew Gray.  Gray is a Virginia good ol' boy who has connection in the Republican Party and in the Virginia law enforcement field. What he doesn't have is any documented education in animals. His entire background is in "public safety" and running a large charity that is not animal related.

From his former bio: "Matt has significant experience in grassroots organizing and fundraising, having served as Director of Development for the Republican Party of Virginia." Again, he knows zippo about animals but he's got connections in the good ol' boy network to help whitewash HSUS's failing image.

As I have written about extensively in my first book, Staring the Dragon in the Eye: The Hidden Victims of Animal Extremists, and again in an article in 2013, Virginia is for No Animals Left, Virginia Animal Control Officers receive almost no credible training in animals.  As I wrote about previously, law enforcement nation wide receives their training from convicted criminals, exposed quacks, and sexual perverts.  What they don't receive is any proper training on animals from true animal experts.

Now Mark Herring is right.  Virginia law enforcement officers do need training in animal law, just not from this circle jerk.  To show what I mean, consider the following cases that I covered in my recent book, The Art of Terror:  Inside the Animal Rights Movement:

In Frederick County, Virginia, the Sheriff and his pals raided a purebred Arabian horse breeder who was an equine certified veterinarian.  The victim in this case was a  horse expert.  They used the Henneke Body Scale against the victim to declare that she was abusing animals.  The problem is, Dr. Henneke has issued a public statement refuting the use of the Henneke Scale in ANY animal cruelty or neglect case.  Additionally, the Frederick County Prosecutor used a West Virginia veterinarian as a witness to testify against the defendant in this case.   This witness was later sanctioned by the Virginia Board of Veterinary Medicine for illegally practicing medicine in Virginia without a permit.  That's the prosecution's witness!  

"Over the past decade, the Body Condition Scoring System for Horses (BCS) has become, in many if not most cases, the sole reason for seizure for neglect or abuse. The problem with this is that the BCS was not designed to reflect the health or well-being of the horse."
Dr. Henneke.

In Page County, the Sheriff invited in a California based vigilante squad run by guess what?  A high school dropout with no education in animals, to help him raid a dog breeder.  This group had no legal authority to come into Virginia and operate.  Many of the stolen dogs were then shipped out of Virginia for resale.  

In Virginia Beach, animal control brought a good Samaritan up on animal cruelty charges after she objected to their death rate at their shelter in a vicious form of payback.

Or how about Botetourt County, where a long time SPCA volunteer was brought up on animal cruelty charges because an animal rights veterinarian disagreed with her veterinarians diagnosis.  Get that?  She wasn't cruel to an animal.  She was treating the dog in accordance with what her vet told her to do.   In fact, this victim was so well loved in her community that local prosecutors refused to charge her.  But don't worry, Michelle Welch stepped in to rectify that and filed charges anyway. 

I will reiterate what I've said in the past.  Law enforcement needs to receive training on animal law from actual animal experts in their fields.  Until that finally happens, doubt and vigorously question every single case of "Animal Abuse" that you see prosecuted in Virginia.   Law enforcement has proven that they just can't be trusted when they throw their hats in with terrorists.  

When Law Enforcement Cavorts with Criminals

I speak regularly of the fact that almost no one in law enforcement receives training on animals from animal experts. Instead the field of "animal law" is littered with con artists, quacks, sexual perverts and criminals.   Previously I discussed the National Sheriffs' Association here and the Virginia Animal Control Association here.  Also being led down the garden path is the National District Attorneys Association, which is just as bad as the American Prosecutors Association.

The National District Attorneys Association runs a "National Center for Prosecution of Animal Abuse" which offers many webinars on "animal abuse." Sounds good, right? Let’s look deeper.

In 2014 they offered the following Webinars:

Collaborative Animal Cruelty Investigations. 

Presented by Joe Stafford (Director of Animal Law Enforcement) and Rod Novotny (Animal Law Enforcement Training Manager) with the Humane Society of the Pikes Peak Region, Colorado

Grant Writing 101: Securing Funding for Animal Care.

Presenter: Adam Liebling (Director of Grants Compliance & Communication Grants Management, ASPCA)

"Feeding, housing, and caring for seized animals can be a costly necessity within an animal cruelty case. Learn how to find and be awarded grants to help defray these unexpected costs."

I wonder if he’s going to present on how the ASPCA and PETA asked a Florida judge for $1 million dollars for "animal care" that included bills for luxury hotel stays, catered lunches and "chocolates for the ladies."

Investigating and Prosecuting Juvenile Animal Abusers

Presenter: Jennifer Rallo (Assistant State’s Attorney with the Baltimore City State’s Attorney’s Office)

"Research tells us that juveniles who enjoy harming animals are more likely to commit future acts of violence against humans. This webinar will provide an overview of the prosecution of the youthful offender and offer practical advice in how to best approach building your successful case against a youthful offender and how to achieve the best sentencing results."

Because as we all know, giving a juvenile a criminal record and sentencing them to prison time is really good for their "future."

Pretrial Motions – The Framework for Evidence at Trial

Presenter: Diane Balkin (Animal Legal Defense Fund, Criminal Justice Division Attorney)

Pretrial motions are an integral part of trial preparation. Court rulings regarding motions may dramatically affect the substance and procedure at trial. The prosecution of crimes against animals is still a relatively unexplored area. This webinar will discuss standard practice motions, such as motions for discovery and motions to suppress evidence and statements. Additionally, other motions such as “other/similar transactions” (Rule 404(b)) and Frye hearings (regarding expert testimony as to pain, suffering, etc.)

Understanding and Prosecuting Bestiality

Presenter: Jenny Edwards (The Chandler Edwards Group)

Bestiality is an emotional, even taboo topic, and can present moral, ethical, and legal challenges for the prosecutor. The sexual abuse of an animal by a human is considered a paraphernalia or sexual perversity, by the American Psychiatric Association, and is illegal throughout the United States and many foreign countries. Animal sex abuse can happen in any county or city, and occurs far more often than you might think.

I have covered Ms. Jenny Edwards before, when I talked about her lack of any credible experience in animals, let alone bestiality.

Keeping up the fun, in 2013 they offered the following Webinars:

Behavioral Assessment and Rehabilitation of Animal Cruelty Victims

Presenter: Dr. Pamela Reid (ASPCA Behavioral Assessment Unit)

Dogs rescued from cruel conditions, including puppy mills, hoarding situations and dog fighting, run the gamut from friendly, sociable animals to extremely fearful—even feral—creatures.

Common Issues When Investigating and Prosecuting Animal Neglect Cases

Presenter: Geoff Fleck (Animal Legal Defense Fund, Criminal Justice Program)

This talk will address common issues that police and prosecutors confront when investigating and litigating animal neglect cases with an emphasis on three key procedural issues: (1) warrant writing; (2) pre-conviction tools to recover costs and get the animals out of the system ASAP; and (3) winning the merger of charges issues on the grounds that each animal qualifies as a separate victim.

Of course each animal is a separate victim!  If the animal owner had a tank of goldfish that's 10 extra victims to ramp up the charges against the poor luckless owner that went up against these loons. 

The Dog in the Evidence Locker Problem: Managing Live Evidence in Animal Cruelty and Fighting Cases

Presenter: Stacy Wolf (Vice President and Chief Legal Counsel for ASPCA’s Humane Law Enforcement Division)

In an animal cruelty or animal fighting case, the arrest of the perpetrator is often just the beginning of a long road for the animal victims seized in the case. It may take many months, even years, before the criminal case is resolved. During that time, the animals must be housed, fed, and provided with veterinary care.

Note: They recommend "Voluntary written surrender" so that they can resell off the animals immediately.   That "voluntary" surrender is usually at the point of a gun. 

Bloodstained Dirt: Cockfighting in the United States

Presenter: John Goodwin (Director of Animal Cruelty Policy, The Humane Society of the United States)

"What do public corruption cases targeting sheriff's departments in Tennessee and Virginia have in common with DEA investigations targeting drug cartels? What do large scale gambling facilities have to do with severe animal cruelty? The answer: cockfighting. While illegal in all 50 states, cockfighting thrives in the jurisdictions with weaker laws."

Seriously? John Goodwin?? The convicted criminal in five states?  The felon? The former member of the Animal Liberation Front, an FBI certified domestic terrorist group? John Goodwin who once stated: "We will never, ever, ever work with anyone who helps the FBI stop the A.L.F."  

Investigating and Litigating Equine Neglect Cases

Presenters: Scott Heiser (Animal Legal Defense Fund, Criminal Justice Program) and Dr. Jennifer Cole (Equine Veterinarian)

"The investigation and prosecution of equine abuse/neglect cases commonly involve complex medical issues that are either missed by inexperienced investigators or mishandled by novice prosecutors. These types of errors create tremendous opportunities for the defense to undermine otherwise highly viable criminal cases."

I wonder if they will be mentioning the Henneke Body Scoring System?  And if so, will they be mentioning the little inconvenient fact that Dr. Henneke has publicly stated that prosecutors and law enforcement are misusing his system and it was NEVER designed to be used in animal cruelty cases?

Cases of Animal Abuse: The Role of the Forensic Veterinarian

Presenter: Dr. Rachel Touroo, DVM, Director of Veterinary Forensics, ASPCA Anti-Cruelty

Veterinary forensics is a recently emerging branch of veterinary medicine. Learn about the critical role veterinarians play in animal abuse cases.  

You know from Ms. Touroo who has almost no hands-on experience with actual animals. 

Blood “Sports”:

Investigating and Prosecuting Animal Fighting Cases

Presenter: Geoff Fleck (Criminal Justice Program Contract Attorney, Animal Legal Defense Fund)

Explore the horrific and clandestine world of animal fighting through the experienced eyes of a former prosecutor. Geoff Fleck will discuss specialized investigative techniques including effective warrant application and execution, the evidence to look for and seize, and trial strategies designed to insure a successful outcome in these often difficult cases.

Back in 2012 they offered the following Webinars:

Anticipating Defenses in Animal Abuse Prosecutions

Presenter: Diane Balkin, Contract Attorney with Animal Legal Defense Fund (retired Denver Deputy District Attorney)

Part of the prosecution strategy in any criminal trial is to anticipate the defense. There are certain defenses common to all types of crimes such as self-defense, identification, lack of intent, etc. Crimes against animals also involve more unique defense tactics and statutorily available defenses. It is critical for the prosecutor to carefully analyze his or her case to determine the strengths and weaknesses. The facts may be weak with strong witnesses or the reverse may be true. In this free, 60-minute webinar, Diane Balkin, a contract attorney for the Animal Legal Defense Fund’s Criminal Justice Program, will discuss the most common defenses in animal cruelty cases and how to prepare for them.

Combating Animal Cruelty: The Past, Present and Future

Presenter: Dr. Randall Lockwood, Senior Vice President of Forensic Sciences and Anti-Cruelty Projects, ASPCA

Review the history of efforts to fight animal abuse and neglect in America from the early days of animal protection to today.

Taught by a man who has made his career out of defining exactly what is a hoarder of animals and why.   Literally he made it up.  An entire category of crime made up by one man and taught to law enforcement nationwide as an 'expert witness.' 

Planning for a Large Scale Seizure

Presenter: Joel Lopez, Sr. Manager of Operations, Field Investigations and Response, ASPCA

Responding to hoarding and other cases that involve large numbers of animals requires comprehensive planning.

Trial Strategies in Animal Cruelty Prosecutions

Presenter: Geoff Fleck, Esq., Animal Legal Defense Fund

This webinar will discuss specialized techniques for successfully prosecuting animal cruelty cases. Learn about jury selection, opening statements, presenting the state's case, cross-examining the defendant, and making an effective closing argument.

Common Issues Law Enforcement and Prosecutors Confront When Investigating and Litigating "Puppy Mill Cases"

Presenter: Scott Heiser, Esq., Animal Legal Defense Fund

This one hour talk by Animal Legal Defense Fund’s Scott Heiser will cover a host of factual and legal issues relevant to any puppy mill case, including:   an overview of the USDA’s regulatory impact on these types of cases.

Back in 2011 they offered the following Webinars:

The Veterinarian as an Expert Witness

Presenters: Diane Balkin, Animal Legal Defense Fund and Dr. Rob Reisman, ASPCA.

Veterinarians play a crucial role in identifying, reporting, and testifying in animal cruelty cases.

Nothing better than encouraging vets to turn on their patients and turn them into the police, right?  It turns out that Diane Balkin is an animal rights activist. 


Prosecuting Animal Hoarding: Why, When and How

Presented by: Dr. Randall Lockwood, Senior Vice President of Forensic Sciences and Anti-Cruelty Projects at ASPCA

"Animal hoarding cases represent a significant proportion of animal abuse and severe neglect cases."

As you can see, the vast majority of training offered to District Attorney's is taught by perverts, quacks, self-professed experts and criminals.

Has the National Sheriffs’ Association embraced terrorism?

You’d think that an illustrious organization like the National Sheriffs' Association (NSA) would be on the side of law and order but apparently not.  Recently an issue of "Deputy and Court Officer" published by the National Sheriffs' Association crossed my desk.  Focused on "animal crimes" the issue is chock full of nothing but ideology masquerading as science as Humane Watch recently put it so eloquently.  

To start off with, the issue features a mind boggling nine mentions of the Animal Welfare Institute, to include two articles written by activists from this organization itself.  Are you kidding me?  The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) recently settled a RICO Act lawsuit brought against it and several other animal rights organizations by the Ringling Bros Circus.  This settlement came about when AWI and several other animal rights organizations lost a long standing animal abuse case against the Circus.  After almost a decade of litigation, the Judge ruled that the entire lawsuit alleging that Ringling Bros was committing elephant abuse was ""frivolous," "vexatious," and "groundless and unreasonable from its inception."" If AWI and their animal rights pals have been proven to lie about Ringling’s treatment of their elephants, just what makes the National Sheriffs' Association think they would tell the truth about any other case of animal cruelty?  In fact, Charity Navigator has issued a Donor Advisory against the Animal Welfare Institute as a result of their RICO Act settlement.

So what exactly is the NSA? It’s really a lobbyist organization for LEO’s nationwide. Now the NSA says on their website that part of their goals are to assist the "Sheriffs of this country" so that they can "provide quality service to their constituents." Those are noble goals indeed, especially since their constituents are their bosses. Never thought of it that way did you? The office of Sheriff is an elected position, directly elected by the voters of that county. Which means, the voters of that county are the supervisors of their Sheriffs, not the other way around. The NSA goes on to say, "All Sheriffs share the common goal of protecting the citizens that elected us, and making the quality of life of those citizens the best it can be." Really? If that is your goal then why are you lying down with ideological extremists whose only goals are to destroy the lives of your citizens?

But it gets better, the NSA is incorporated in Ohio and the Commonwealth of Virginia. Both Ohio and Virginia are animal rights terrorist strong holds.  In my recent book, The Art of Terror, I provided extensive information about the 2014 Association of Prosecuting Attorneys conference hosted by the Animal Legal Defense Fund, an animal rights lawyers group, which featured such speakers on "animal cruelty" as discredited quack, Melinda Merck, the originator of the "Animal CSI" field.  Another speaker, John Goodwin, is a convicted criminal with a record in five states, oh, and, he was totally discredited in a Wisconsin court case revealing that he knows nothing about "animal fighting." John Goodwin is also famous as a former spokesman for the Animal Liberation Front (ALF), who once stated: "We will never, ever, ever work with anyone who helps the FBI stop the A.L.F."  For those that don't know... ALF is one of the most dangerous domestic terrorism threats in America today.  

This trend of using ideological extremists, who know nothing about animals, to teach law enforcement officers is not new.  See this article I wrote last year on the education that Virginia’s Animal Control Officers receive on "animal law." Their instructors are quacks and criminals (who seem to love animal sex) just like the Prosecutors Conference.   Keeping the circle jerk cozy, John Thompson of the NSA also spoke at the national quack conference. 

All of this reminds me of the old Dave Garcia story.  Dave Garcia is the guy who used to head up the Dallas SPCA and who trained some of the team on the TV show, Animal Cops.  He also used to train law enforcement officers on "animal cruelty" cases and what exactly constitutes cruelty in his fertile imagination.  Garcia was finally outed as the dirt bag he is on John Stossel's program on 20/20 back in 2005.  Turns out that 'expert' in animal cruelty was nothing of the kind.  What he really was is a convicted rapist.  He served three years in the slammer on a kidnapping and rape charge, then of course there were the multiple DUI's in various states.  You'd think that after that fiasco, that law enforcement officers would finally get a clue and ask actual animal experts for training.  But, I guess not.

Then there's the National Law Enforcement Center on Animal Abuse "Advisory Board."  It too is staffed largely by ideological radicals with no credible animal experience.  Besides the Animal Legal Defense Fund, another position is filled by an HSUS Staffer and another by an ex-HSUS staffer.  Funny enough, HSUS is also a party to the RICO Act lawsuit mentioned earlier.   Humane Watch has just released an excellent new report on this mega-scam-a-thon organization:  Looting in the Aftermath.  I highly recommend reading it. 

Literally in America today, the inmates are running the asylum. It’s no wonder that in an animal law case, the standard of law is now "guilty until proven innocent." With Animal Control officers, Sheriffs, and Prosecutors receiving their education from ideological extremists who have no experience in animals, it’s no wonder that American lives are being destroyed from coast to coast.

Respect has to be earned. When the NSA and law enforcement in general presents a slate of racketeers, criminals, and quacks as their experts, they receive no respect. The price of freedom is eternal vigilance. You must watch what your local Sheriff is doing and demand transparency and accountability. If they show one ounce of interest in going along with these ideological extremists, throw them out of office.   The onus is on you.