Exclusive | No animal cruelty charges filed 6 months after sick, starving pets found at Tri-Cities shelter

Two former leaders of Tri-City Animal Shelter remain uncharged more than six months after dozens of sick animals were discovered at the facility.

Former shelter Director Rebecca Howard and a shelter manager were allegedly responsible for the condition of 30 cats and four dogs forced to be removed from the shelter in November because the were sick or malnourished, according to Pasco police.

While Howard briefly faced charges in Pasco Municipal Court, they were dropped within weeks.

Since then the case against her and potentially against the manager has bounced between Franklin and Benton county prosecutors.

Franklin County Prosecutor Shawn Sant said he is looking for another prosecutor to handle the cases while his office continues pursuing charges against Julie Chambers, Neo Nation’s former chief financial officer, for siphoning $300,000 from the shelter.

Howard and Chambers were part of Neo’s Nation Animal Foundation. The nonprofit signed a $875,000 annual contract in January 2021 to manage the Tri-Cities Animal Shelter along with providing animal control service for Kennewick, Richland and Pasco.

The city of Pasco ended the contract with the nonprofit in November after city officials and police raided the shelter and found animals in cramped and filthy conditions without the medical attention they desperately needed, said police reports.

“Countless cats had suffered unnecessary and unjustifiable physical pain because of their failure to do so,” according to the citation that was filed in December.

The animal cruelty case has ground to a halt as other legal issues involving management of the shelter are moving ahead.

Chambers is scheduled for a Sept. 14 trial for first-degree theft and money laundering after an accusation that she took the money to buy a Richland home.

Pasco also filed a civil suit over the $10,000 in bonuses paid to Chambers and Howard, and other $5,000 paid to the manager Justin Hernandez instead of helping animals in the shelter.

Conflicts

The initial criminal charges against Howard were filed in Pasco Municipal Court on Dec. 1, but within weeks they were dropped so the case could be transferred to Franklin County District Court.

It remained in limbo as prosecutors reviewed the case, but because Howard is a witness in the theft case against Chambers it was determined that there was a conflict of interest with the case being prosecuted by Franklin County.

“We preferred to have an outside ... prosecutor’s office review the facts and allegations against that individual so an independent charging decision could be made without regard to the underlying embezzlement case,” he said.

Sant asked the Benton County Prosecutor’s Office to handle the case. As they reviewed it, Prosecutor Andy Miller said prosecutors discovered one of their employees had previously worked for the shelter, creating a conflict of interest with his office.

Now, the case has returned to the Franklin County Prosecutor’s Office, and Sant said he is looking for another prosecutor’s office to review the case.

Animal cruelty

The citation filed in Pasco Municipal Court provided a glimpse into the conditions of the animals at the shelter in November.

City officials said they were tipped off about the sick animals, and made an unannounced visit. The conditions they found were concerning enough that they returned with Pasco police officers.

Pasco Detective Julie Lee said in the report that she got photos of the sick cats and a photo of an emaciated dog that later died of kidney failure.

She was told cats would arrive at the shelter healthy and progressively get sicker, and the dog was a healthy weight when it arrived, but became thin because it didn’t want to eat.

The employee said Howard knew about the dog, but waited too long to get it medical treatment. When she did it was too late.

The person also suspected the manager was euthanizing cats that were brought to the shelter.

When police arrived on Nov. 11, they discovered cats stacked in cages in a filthy outbuilding that was infested with mice, according to the citation.

Cages were stacked on top of each other, sometimes with multiple cats per cage. Sick animals were mixed with healthy ones.

In addition to the cats being immediately removed, countless more still needed medical care. In ones case, they found a sick cat with a cut on its throat that had gotten infected. It had burrowed underneath two other cats.

The outbuilding was said to be off limits to some of the employees, as well as volunteers. The veterinarian who came to treat animals was also kept out and had cats brought to her in the main facility.

After the animals were removed in November, they were handed to rescues and foster homes.

“Some of these cats have since died, the surviving cats are still being treated for severe URIs (upper respiratory infections) and ringworm,” according to the citation.

Other legal trouble

While criminal charges about the treatment of the animals remain pending, the two cases that revolve around a $545,000 donation remain active.

Thomas Ashby, a retired railroad engineer and Army veteran divided his $1.5 million estate between three nonprofit agencies, including the Tri-City Animal Shelter.

Since the three cities aren’t able to accept donations on behalf of the shelter, Neo’s Nation was responsible for soliciting and collecting donations, according to a civil lawsuit filed in Benton County by Pasco.

The donations were meant to be used “exclusively for charitable and educational purposes.”

The lawsuit claims the nonprofit used the money to give each Chambers and Howard a $10,000 bonus and to give the shelter manager a $5,000 bonus.

The bonuses came after Chambers allegedly siphoned another $300,00 from the shelter account to buy a home for family members.

While the civil lawsuit had no action for nearly six months, a motion to find in favor of the city was met with opposition by the attorneys representing Chambers, Howard and the manager.

George Telquist, the attorney representing Chambers, submitted an answer to the suit claiming that the city hadn’t presented a reason for their claim.

Chambers has claimed in an email that she was owed the money that she used, because she had supplied money to the shelter.

Angel Betancourt, who is defending Neo’s Nation along with Howard and the manager, issued a 181-page answer to the civil case. He argued that the agreement never included any clause about how donations should be spent.

He also argued the city hadn’t shown that the money should have been spent differently and that the case should have been filed in Franklin County.

No date has been set for a hearing in the case.

This story was originally published May 17, 2022 at 5:00 AM.