Lowanda “Peanut” Kilby, the former director of the Boggs Mountain shelter in Rabun Co, GA has been indicted on 60 felony counts for her part in scamming the public by using the no kill moniker:
Charges filed against Kilby include theft by taking, theft by deception, computer theft and racketeering.
[…]
The indictment accuses Kilby of funneling more than $10,000 of the Lucky Dog money into her personal PayPal account.
Regular readers will recall that Kilby bilked donors using a pay-to-play, mafia style scam where she would guarantee dogs at the supposed no kill shelter would be allowed to live if they received a sponsorship of $100. Kilby would pocket the cash, kill the “Lucky Dog”, then send the sponsor a yay-your-sponsored-dog-got-adopted letter. And on to the next.
Kilby was fired in July 2012 after a tenacious local news reporter received insider info and exposed the scam on the evening news.
To my mind, the first clue that something was amiss should have been the protection money the shelter was demanding in order to protect the pet’s right to live. No genuine no kill shelter would ever require such a payment to avoid killing a healthy/treatable pet. This is entirely different from requesting a donation at the time of surrender. Neither the lack of a donation from a surrendering party nor the lack of sponsorship from a donor should ever compromise a pet’s right to live. Full stop.
Sadly, since shelter pet killing is not only legal but widely accepted as standard practice, no animal cruelty charges are being brought against Kilby for all the healthy/treatable pets she needlessly killed in order to line her pockets. As was the case with Michael Vick, we can at least be thankful that racketeering is considered a serious crime under the law. If the state of Georgia had the Companion Animal Protection Act in place, Kilby could possibly have been charged for the killings as well.
The name Boggs Mountain is no longer used and Rabun Co has since contracted with a group called Paws 4 Life to run the shelter.
Warmest wishes always,
Tammy
You have to give Randy Travis credit for uncovering and sticking with this story. We need an investigative reporter like him in some of these other cities (Memphis). He just put Peanut Kilby’s mugshot on fb. It is scary that she is smiling.
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=577904388941071&set=a.121286824602832.17672.107855612612620&type=1&theater
I wonder if that smiling face is the last thing those “Lucky Dogs” saw on this earth.
I’m so glad she got caught, and very grateful that there are investigative reporters who really stick with it.
And I can’t help but think that it’s sad that the theft of money is considered a crime and the murder of animals is not really considered anything out of the ordinary.
I agree 100%!
Oh, thank goodness for this! I’ve been haunted by that investigative report since I first read about it. Once in a while, justice prevails for these animals.
Well thank goodness SOMEONE is being held accountable for their actions with animal abuse in this world.
I like the way you compared this to a Mafia scheme. I have been wondering why they charged her with theft instead of fraud. She did steal certainly but seems like the intent to defraud was also there.
I am not a lawyer but guessing that what we are thinking of as fraud might translate to racketeering under the law. It would be very hard to educate everyone involved about the definition of no kill and even then, it would be something the defense could easily poke holes in by bringing up the many organizations which call themselves no kill but in fact kill animals.
I am happy they charged her with felony theft. If she was charged with animal cruelty she probably would walk with probation, if proven guilty. Ideally, she would be charged with both, but if given a choice, I’d take felony theft any day. That is not a charge you just plea out to probation.
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