2
horse thieves found guilty of Thistledown heists
Wednesday, May 31,
2006
James F. McCarty
Plain Dealer Reporter
In the Old West,
Charles Burneson and John Queen might have faced a date with the
hangman's noose for stealing horses.
But after a jury
convicted them Tuesday for rustling a pair of race horses from the
Thistledown Racetrack, the maximum Burneson and Queen can receive is 18
months in prison. Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge Eileen T. Gallagher
scheduled their sentencing for June 29. Horse owner Mike Newell was
satisfied with the jury's verdicts, but not with the loss of his beloved
racers, Jakeman and For All You Girls, each valued at more than $5,000.
When their racing days ended in June 2004, he arranged to put them out
to pasture at a farm for retired race horses in Lake County.
"It was never about the
money," said Newell, of Fort Erie, Ontario, who would have received two
$3,500 tax deductions for donating the horses. "If [the co-defendants]
could have driven me to a farm and showed me where the horses were happy
and eating grass, I would have been satisfied."
But Burneson, 37, of
Chippewa Lake, and Queen, 37, of Grove City, stole them from their
stalls, and Burneson sold them for $250 each to a slaughterhouse.
Chances are the tall bay gelding and the stocky bay mare ended up in
cans of dog food or on plates in Japan or parts of Europe, where horse
meat is eaten like steak, Newell said.
To reach this Plain
Dealer reporter:
jmccarty@plaind.com , 216-999-4153
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Dealer
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