Johnston woman gets two-day jail sentence for burning horses

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Linda Kay Kilbourne, 75, of Johnston was sentenced to two days in jail and a year's probation Tuesday after she was found guilty of one count of failure to dispose of a dead animal. She was originally charged in May on five counts.

A Johnston woman who owns a horse property near Granger was sentenced to two days in jail and a year’s probation Tuesday after she was found guilty on one count of failure to dispose of a dead animal. She was originally charged with five counts.

Linda Kay Kilbourne, 75, of 6831 N.W. 54th Court, Johnston, was sentenced by Dallas County Magistrate Jonathan M. Kimple to 25 days in the Dallas County Jail, but Kimple suspended all but two days of the jail sentence, and Kilbourne was placed on probation for one year. She was also fined $500 plus surcharge and court costs.

Kilbourne was arrested May 13 on five counts of failure to dispose of a dead animal. The charges followed the discovery of a number of decomposing horse carcasses found on her farm outside Granger at 33034 165th St.

The arrest followed a three-month investigation by the Dallas County Sheriff’s office, Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship (IDALS).

Residents in the neighborhood of the Kilbourne property filed numerous complaints over the years with the Dallas County Sheriff’s office about horses wandering off Kilbourne’s property. The starving animals were presumably seeking food.

A Dallas County Deputy Sheriff made contact in early March with Kilbourne on her property, where she admitted to the deputy “that she was burning dead horse carcasses along with some brush,” but Kilbourne would not allow the deputy “to go and inspect the burn pile,” according to court records.

In light of the March incident “and numerous other times where Kilbourne has not disposed of the carcasses properly,” the Dallas County Sheriff’s office referred the case to the DNR and IDALS.

An IDALS inspector investigated the complaints in mid-March, reported the findings and “sent Kilbourne a certified letter containing her findings and demanded the carcasses get disposed of properly,” according to court records. The state inspector made a second visit to the property in late March and again sent a certified letter to Kilbourne, “again demanding remedy of the situation.”

A mid-April visit again “found that the carcasses had not been properly disposed of.”

According to court records, the IDALS inspector found “at least four dead horses that appeared to be common in each visit,” including a “young colt that was later covered with a thin layer of dirt” and other partially burnt carcasses that were later “covered with some branches.”

The IDALS inspector also noted “the bones of multiple, likely dozens, of horses that have died on the property over the years.”

Kilbourne was arrested in mid-May for failure to dispose of a dead animal. She was  arrested June 29 on Dallas County warrants for assault, forgery and trespassing.

The assault and trespassing charges stemmed from an incident June 24, when Kilbourne allegedly entered a property at 33076 165th St. in rural Granger “with no legal right to be on the property.”

According to court records, Kilbourne was allegedly “told several times by the tenant” of the property “to vacate the property, and she refused to leave” and instead “grabbed the arm” of the tenant, “with the intent to place the victim in fear and cause pain, prior to leaving the property.”

The 165th Street property adjoins the property at 33034 165th St., where Kilbourne’s dead animals were improperly disposed of. The horse property is owned by Kori T. Kilbourne of Ozark, Missouri, according to county records.

Kilbourne was convicted of assault Aug. 27 in Dallas County District Court and fined $100. She received a deferred judgment on the forgery charge in November and was sentenced to two years’ probation in Dallas County District Court.

The forgery charge stemmed from a Feb. 14 incident in which a Dallas County Deputy Sheriff issued a citation to Kilbourne for improper vehicle registration. An investigation by the sheriff’s office and the Iowa Department of Transportation (DOT) disclosed that Kilbourne allegedly “intended to forge the state DOT document in order to defraud or elude sanctions that were put in place against her by the State. Kilbourne has received multiple citations for improper registration in the past and still used the forged DOT documents to try and keep from getting more citations,” according to court records.

Kilbourne was convicted of violation of rules of motor vehicles dealers, manufacturers, distributors in 2005 in Dallas County District Court. She was arrested on charges of tampering with records in 1996 and selling vehicles at other than license location in 2001, but the charges were dismissed in Dallas County District Court.

1 COMMENT

  1. If you are too broke to have enough feed for your horses, you do not spend money on proper disposal of the ones that die. I really doubt she wants this. She has a bunch of horses that no one wants (except the horse meat dealers) and almost no money to feed them and after owning them for all these years, they are more pets than just livestock to her.

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