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Two Santa Rosa residents were charged with felony animal cruelty Thursday, accused of mistreating horses.
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By MARTIN ESPINOZA The arrests come four months after an aged black gelding was found abandoned and tied to a barbed wire fence in a dry pasture off Todd Road. The condition of the horse had so deteriorated it was euthanized. Monico Monarrez Mijarez, 40, was charged with one felony count of willful animal cruelty and one misdemeanor count of animal abandonment. Jose Valencia Galvez, 49, was charged with two felony counts of animal abuse and one felony firearms charge. Mijarez and Galvez were arrested Jan. 1 by Sonoma County sheriff's deputies. But the men had been in county officials' crosshairs for weeks. On Nov. 8, a search warrant served at Mijarez's Stony Point residence turned up additional horses that led to abuse charges against Galvez. "This was a collaborative effort between our bureau of investigations and Sonoma County Animal Control," said District Attorney Stephan Passalacqua. "Numerous veterinarians in the community provided a great deal of assistance in solving this case." Betsy Bueno, who runs Santa Rosa-based Lost Hearts & Souls Horse Rescue, said she received two horses found at Mijarez's residence. She said one is an older, skinny Arabian with bad teeth, a skin disorder and rope burns on its rear area. The other was a 9-year-old thoroughbred. "He was an ex-racehorse. His feet were so bad that they had obviously done their own pretend shoeing," said Bueno. "They put a nail straight through the foot." The county investigation began last August after Michelle Helberg, owner of Saddles to Boots equestrian shop in Sebastopol, spotted the black gelding in a field, wasting away with no food or water in near 100-degree weather. Helberg was unable to find the owner, so she loaded the horse on a trailer with the help of her son and brought it to her home in Santa Rosa. A veterinarian later decided that the horse's condition was too poor to save the animal. Bueno said a reward campaign that she and Helberg initiated after the black gelding was euthanized led to information about the two men arrested this week. Officials said Mijarez has posted $10,000 bail and is scheduled to make his first appearance in Sonoma County Superior Court on Jan. 22. Galvez posted $20,000 bail and is scheduled to appear Jan. 23. You can reach Staff Writer Martin Espinoza at 521-5213 or martin.espinoza@ pressdemocrat.com. |
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