Carnation woman pleads guilty to animal cruelty
By LEVI PULKKINEN
Published Oct 17 2008
A 57-year-old King County woman could spend a year in jail for allowing three horses on her Carnation farm to starve to death.
On Thursday, Jean Elledge pleaded guilty to three counts of first-degree animal cruelty, a felony. Prosecutors have recommended Elledge be sentenced to one year in jail for the crimes.
King County Animal Control officers arrived at Elledge’s horse-boarding farm Feb. 22 to find one nearly starved foal and nine other emaciated horses. They also found four dead horses on the property that appeared to have starved to death.
At the time of her arrest, Elledge “seemed distant and did not think that her horses were in poor condition,” investigators said in court documents. She couldn’t remember when last she’d gotten veterinary care for the animals.
Elledge is scheduled to be sentenced Oct. 17 in King County Superior Court.
Prosecutors have also asked that she be barred from owning or caring for horses.
