By Amy Joi O’Donoghue, of the Deseret News
“At Least this is Something…”
A truck hauling horses travels the highway near Helper, Friday, Aug. 5, 2011. The horses were impounded by federal agents at the port of entry. (Ravell Call, Deseret News)
SALT LAKE CITY — More than a year after indictments were handed down by a federal grand jury, the case against a pair of Utah men accused in a horse slaughtering ring is winding down to a close.
Multiple charges were brought in September 2011 against Robert Wilford Capson, of West Jordan, and Dennis Kay Kunz for their part in fraudulently obtaining Bureau of Land Management wild horses for intended sale for slaughter in Mexico.
More than 60 horses were intercepted by federal agents and impounded at port of entry outside of Helper in Carbon County on U.S. 6 in August 2011.
The indictment said Capson purchased the horses on paper from the Wild Horse and Burro Facility in Herriman, indicating to the federal agency the animals were to be used as rodeo stock in Ibapah, Tooele County.
Wild horses deemed ineligible for adoption are routinely sold by the BLM, but such transactions require would-be buyers to affirm the animals will not be resold and, in particular, are not destined for slaughter houses in Mexico or Canada.
Capson, according to the indictment, purchased the horses and delivered them in Willard, Box Elder County, to Kunz, whose involvement was deliberately kept under the radar because of his reputation as a “kill buyer” of horses.
Agents tracked the animals to Willard, where Kunz provided the tractor, trailer and fuel with the intent to get the animals to Presidio, Texas, on the U.S.-Mexico border.
Capson pleaded guilty earlier this year to one count of wire fraud. He received one year probation and was ordered to pay $9,400 in restitution.
In a plea deal struck this month with U.S. prosecutors, Kunz agreed to an identical resolution in the case and will be sentenced in January by Judge Dale Kimball.
Melodie Rydalch, spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Salt Lake City, said felony convictions for both men are an appropriate conclusion for the case.
“In this case, which involved an undercover sting operation by the BLM, the horses were never in danger,” Rydalch said. “These felony convictions, however, should send a strong message to others that this is conduct that will be aggressively prosecuted.”
Simone Netherlands, managing director of the wild horse advocacy group Respect4Horses, praised the outcome of the case, but noted the Utah incident is symptomatic of a larger, widespread problem that largely goes unnoticed by the federal agency tasked with managing wild horse populations.
“At least this is something,” Netherlands said. “This should be a reason for kill buyers to be a little more cautious and a little more scared.”
The last U.S. horse slaughter plant shut down in 2007, a year after Congress effectively instituted a ban by not funding U.S. Department of Agriculture inspections of horses transported for slaughter for human consumption.
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Categories: Horse News, Horse Slaughter, Wild Burros, Wild Horses/Mustangs
Straight from the Horse's Heart 
Hallelujah!!
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good news.
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Finally a convinction.
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Per Sally (BLM person in charge of interviewing and approving and signing sales of our Wild Horses and Burros) … “Before someone can purchase a horse, they need to complete the attached questionnaire. We then spend quite a bit of time talking with the interested purchaser on what their plans are for the horse(s).”
Apparently she must have LIKED the buyer’s plans for these horses since she approved the sale?
Also
Where is the Department of Justice investigation? Per Sally… “If we become aware of someone we have sold horses to who then sells or transfer ownership to any person who sells them to slaughter, we turn them over to the Department of Justice for prosecution…”
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What happened to the Law? If you stole a horse we hung you.
If you bought a horse to sell to slaughter we hung you with a new rope after we spit on you.
If you bought a horse to sell to be slaughtered (and tortured) then we did more than spit before we hung you. (Ironically off the back of a horse – Puts a new twist on “what goes around comes around”)
No respect for a horse is no respect no matter.
The Wild Wind Children, our brothers and sisters who give us the wind ,are our Spirit guides to the Great Mother Truth Keeper. Some see it -some have no hearts and never will.
Pray these stone hearts did not bring innocents into this world – to bear the burden and markings of the sins.
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Well, let’s see just how many horses Slaughterin’ Sally has sent to their deaths? Wonder if she could spend a year in jail for every miserable horse she has illegally condemed to their deaths. She is no fool and neiter are we.
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Beauty and truth Elizabeth Dana. I see you.
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I wish the punishment will be not only a great deal of money but an extreme amount of time in jail. Otherwise, what punishment are these “devils” receiving and what example is being made to others that might pull the same thing. Examples, I believe, may be deterrents. We need all the deterrents we can get to get to the point that NOONE wants to transport horses over our borders to slaughter. Punishment must be SWIFT and DAMAGING. If not, there will be no justice for our beautiful icons.
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Great news to hear! Keep dishing out the fines & make them soooo big they’ll think twice b4 ever doing it again. Its such a travisty taking horses anywhere to be slaughtered. Anyone caught should be hanged!
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An undercover sting operation by the BLM is hard to believe and doubly dubious is that these horses were never in danger, as Rydalch stated. What happened to these 60 horses, where are they?
These felony convictions are NEVER aggressively prosecuted. These kill buyers get plea deals, paltry fines and/or probation. Not much of a deterent !
This so-called sting sounds like a ruse to make it appear as the BLM is actively involved in stopping this illegal wild horse slaughter.
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Interesting that you should say that it sounds like a ruse because that is what it could very well be. The week before several advocates contacted the FBI from around the country. It felt at the time like the FBI tipped off the DOI. There could not have been more than seven or eight days, but the reports were sent by multiple advocates from multiple locations. Maybe we need to coordinate our info and try this again.
Fines aren’t enough. I think people like Sally should be investigated to the max and if they are found guilty, lose their job and their benefits for life. They are animal abusers, and they have abused the public trust.
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Amazing it’s ‘OK’ for BLM to do the same thing, as they have for years sending OUR horses to slaughter…..but act like a hero in cases like this. Pathetic liers & murdering theives
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Not to mention the failure of Congressional oversight and the courts. Failure of the administration to fire people for their egregious failures to follow our laws over and over again. Rather than firing them, they put them in charge of our greatest natural resources. So rather than follow our laws, administrators like Ken Salazar gets rewarded for continuing to break them. What is wrong with this picture?
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Our wild horses being sold to rodeo? 😦
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