Jury trial requested in animal cruelty case

March 14, 2007|By ERIN JULIUS

HAGERSTOWN

A Sharpsburg woman charged with 77 counts of animal cruelty requested a jury trial in Washington County Circuit Court. The request for a jury trial was delivered Friday, court documents show.

Barbara Reinken faces four felony charges and has a right to a jury trial because of the gravity of the charges.

The 73 misdemeanor animal-cruelty counts allege Reinken failed to provide for 72 horses and one cat at her Windrinker Farm at 4040 Mills Road in Sharpsburg. The four felony aggravated animal-cruelty counts allege Reinken failed to provide for four horses that died.

Conviction on the three counts of animal mutilation carries three years in detention for each count.

After turning herself in on an arrest warrant, Reinken, 61, was released on personal recognizance by a District Court commissioner on the condition she not keep any horses on her property until disposition on the charges is complete.

More than 70 horses were seized from the farm in December by the Humane Society of Washington County, which continues to care for the horses, according to a news release from the Humane Society.

Reinken's attorney, Edward N. Button, did not return a phone call Wednesday afternoon.

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