Orlando Vazquez-Guzman, who breeds and trains horses at his 5-acre ranch on Collecting Canal Road, and has no criminal record, vehemently denied ever hurting horses.
“Never in my property,” he said in broken English, waving off the help of a Spanish translator during the hearing before Circuit Judge Glenn Kelley. “The horses is my life. Never, never in my life.”
Assistant State Attorney Judith Arco has repeatedly denied reports by members of a Miami-based animal rights group that horses were slaughtered on Vazquez-Guzman’s property or on two other nearby farms. Animal Recovery Mission went undercover and provided video to law enforcement agencies, claiming it showed horses being slaughtered and sold for human consumption.
Arco said investigators found no evidence horses were slaughtered at any of the farms – only goats and a cow. Nine men, including Vazquez-Guzman, were charged with a variety of offenses. Some were charged with animal cruelty.
With Vazquez-Guzman's plea, only two cases are pending, Arco said. Jorge Luis Garcia, 48, was sentenced to a year in jail after a jury found him guilty of four counts of animal cruelty for killing goat inhumanely. Five people accepted plea deals and received short jail sentences or probation. All are prohibited from participating in animal slaughter.
Vazquez-Guzman leased part of his property to some of the other men arrested in the raid who were slaughtering animals, said his attorney Joshua Hauserman. But, he said, Vazquez-Guzman wasn't involved in their operation.
He said eating horsemeat is common in Latin counties, like Cuba and Puerto Rico, where Vazquez-Guzman was born. “It’s common in the culture at the end of the workday to have a little Corona and a little jerky,” Hauserman said. The horsemeat authorities found in Vazquez-Guzman’s refrigerator was probably given to him as a gift, he said.
In addition to a year of house arrest, Vazquez-Guzman will be on probation for two additional years and must pay a $3,500 fine. While he can continue to train horses and have them on his farm, Kelley said Vazquez-Guzman must tell authorities what animals he is keeping and submit to random inspections. No animal slaughter is allowed.
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