By T. D. Thornton
Charles A. “Chuck” Borell, the leaseholder at a Kentucky farm where 43 neglected and undernourished horses were deemed to have been abandoned by the Kentucky Department of Agriculture (KDOA) in June, entered an “Alford plea” (a plea of guilty without making an admission of guilt) in Mercer County District Court on Sept. 29 that will spare him from going to jail in the highly publicized equine abuse case.
According to the Lexington Herald-Leader, Borell will serve two years of probation in return for relinquishing any ownership interest he had in the 43 horses that have since been moved to 14 different farms. Borell must also forfeit his $4,300 bail bond as partial payment for the seized horses' care and agree not to assume a caretaker role for animals anywhere in Kentucky.
Charles Borell's daughter, Maria Borell, is currently considered a fugitive from justice. She has an active warrant for her arrest on the same Class A misdemeanor charges her father faced–43 counts of cruelty to animals–but has thus far eluded capture.
Earlier this summer, KDOA officials told TDN that the department does not have the resources to extradite her if she is apprehended out of state.
“The fact that [Charles Borell] pled guilty to nine counts of cruelty in the second degree, I'm happy with that,” Bradley Keough, the deputy state veterinarian for the KDOA, told TDN in a phone interview. “It's documented on his record. The fact that he's forfeited all rights to these horses, and that we can finally proceed with the disposition of the animals to suitable homes and proper caretakers makes me happy. The fact that he can't have any animals, at least within the boundaries of our state, I'm very satisfied with. I think that was a necessary part of that arrangement.”
But considering that the investigation and re-homing of the horses consumed significant resources from the KDOA for about a month this summer, Charles Borell's plea deal did not seem just to all observers. His Alford plea only pertained to nine of the 43 counts of animal cruelty; the remaining 34 counts were merged and dismissed as part of the agreement.
Rena Elswick, a member of the Woodford County Humane Society's board of directors, who has attended each court proceeding in the Borell case, told the Herald-Leader after the outcome that she was disappointed with the resolution. “I think the Department of Agriculture just wants to get out of it as quickly as possible,” Elswick said, adding that Borell should have faced greater punishment after “the horses were left to starve.”
Charles Borell's attorney, Larry Catlett of Harrodsburg, didn't see it that way. He did not return a TDN phone message prior to deadline for this story. But earlier Thursday he told the Herald-Leader that Charles Borell “thinks he is being railroaded” and that the penalty is “unjust.” Catlett added that despite his feelings of being “double-crossed” by people he had hired to feed and care for the horses, Borell chose to accept a plea agreement rather than go to trial because he doesn't have the money to fight the charges in court.
At this time last year, few people in the racing world had heard of either of the Borells. Despite never having trained a Thoroughbred winner from 22 lifetime starts, in the summer of 2015 Maria Borell took over as the trainer of Runhappy (Super Saver), who blossomed into a Grade I stakes-winning sprinter.
On Oct. 31, 2015, Runhappy won the GI Breeders' Cup Sprint. But less than 24 hours after that victory, Maria Borell was fired, and she sued client Gallery Racing Stables, LLC, for breach of contract and defamation. Over the winter she relocated to Florida, where a training stint with Drawing Away Stable also ended in a dismissal.
According several articles published this spring on the website US Racing, Maria Borell's name, and later her father's, began surfacing in a series of troubling incidents involving questionable equine care, damage to leased properties, and personal financial difficulties in Kentucky.
The KDOA and Mercer County Sheriff began investigating the case of the neglected horses at a farm leased by Charles Borell on June 3. They found underfed, underwatered, and confined horses of all ages with open sores and untrimmed feet. Rusty Ford, the KDOA equine programs manager, said on June 28 that the horses met the legal “criteria for abandonment.”
Separate from the criminal charges against the Borells, the Herald-Leader reported that state and local officials filed a lawsuit earlier this month seeking legal ownership of the horses while requiring the Borells to pay the costs incurred for the horses' care. More than $20,000 had been spent on temporary care for the horses at the time the suit was filed.
Keough said the civil suit does not involve the KDOA and that the lawsuit remains unaffected by Thursday's plea deal.
As for any clues to Maria Borell's whereabouts, Keough said, “My intelligence is the same as yours. It's what I see on the blog sites and on the Web. I understood she was in North Carolina for a period of time. Reportedly there have been sightings in New York, but I do not have any hard evidence of where she may be.”
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