Update: Ex-animal shelter director charged with pet cruelty hurt in DUI rollover
A Kennewick woman at the center of an animal cruelty scandal was hurt in a suspected DUI wreck on Monday afternoon.
Rebecca L. Howard, 48, of Kennewick, was driving east on Highway 240 when her 2021 Alfa Romero Stelvio SUV left the road and rolled, according to Washington State Patrol.
The wreck happened east of the Edison Street exit near Columbia Park about 4:30 p.m.
She suffered cuts and broken bones, WSP Trooper Daniel Mosqueda told the Tri-City Herald. She was not wearing her seat belt, said WSP investigators.
Howard is expected to be charged with DUI.
Mosqueda confirmed that court records show she is the Rebecca Howard charged with dozens of counts of animal cruelty related to the 2021 takeover of the Tri-Cities Animal Shelter in Pasco.
Her trial on the animal cruelty charges is now set for early 2026.
Animal cruelty charges
In 2023, Howard and Justin Hernandez, along with the nonprofit Neo’s Nation, were charged with 48 counts of animal cruelty in Franklin County Superior Court.
They each face two counts of felony first-degree animal cruelty and 14 counts of second-degree animal cruelty, a gross misdemeanor.
If convicted Howard and Hernandez face up to five years in prison and a $10,000 fine for each of the felony charges and up to a year in prison and a $5,000 fine for each of the gross misdemeanors.
Neo’s Nation faces a fine of up to $500,000 for each felony and $250,000 for each gross misdemeanor, which would be a total of $4.5 million if convicted on every charge and sentenced to pay the maximum amounts. Court documents name Howard and Hernandez as the governing members of the nonprofit.
Howard was previously charged with misdemeanor animal cruelty in Pasco Municipal Court, but that case was dropped, then the investigation was referred to Benton County because of Pasco’s operation of the shelter facility, and eventually ended up being investigated by Grant County.
The Attorney General’s Environmental Protection Division is prosecuting the case.
Animal shelter turmoil
Neo’s Nation took over management of the Tri-Cities Animal Shelter in January 2021.
The alleged animal cruelty came to light when employees and volunteers began to express concerns to local animal clinics. After hearing from employees and volunteers, a local veterinarian arranged for weekly visits to check on the animals, according to court documents.
In October 2021, a Pasco animal control officer, Cherie Jackson, called Pasco police to report animal abuse.
She reported that Howard and Hernandez were the sole decision makers for all medical decisions for the animals.
Jackson quit her job at the shelter and resigned from the nonprofit’s board over the treatment of one of the animals. She took a dog named Brandt from the shelter to the veterinarian on her own after Howard and Hernandez refused to get medical care for a dog. Brandt was diagnosed with kidney failure, likely due to starvation and malnutrition, according to court documents. He later died.
A second veterinarian said if the dog been treated sooner he would have survived.
Despite Howard claiming she was “vet certified” in her bid for the contract, investigators found no evidence she had medical qualifications to treat animals.
Investigators said Hernandez also implied he was a registered veterinary technician, despite not having the necessary education or credentials, said officials. He was actually an unregistered veterinary assistant, who could not legally perform any tasks unless under the supervision of a licensed veterinarian or vet tech, according to court documents.
When a search warrant was executed at the shelter in November 2021, investigators found multiple dogs in a laundry room that were so emaciated they needed immediate medical care. They also found multiple crates of healthy kittens intermingled with cats that a veterinarian determined were extremely sick and infected, according to the documents.
In an unheated outbuilding, investigators found dozens of cats stacked in crates three-high, with multiple cats in each crate. The outbuilding was also infested with mice and appeared to have not been cleaned in months.
Investigators believe hundreds of cats were moved into that building to hide them from the public’s view. Volunteers were barred from entering the outbuilding, and the animals were not brought to the veterinarian making weekly visits, according to the documents.
The veterinarian told investigators that most of the cats were “in dire need of intervening medical attention.” Many were suffering from severe and painful respiratory and eye infections, according to the documents. Many of those cats ended up needing to have their eyes surgically removed.
Multiple malnourished dogs were also found, as well as kittens sneezing blood.
The Benton Franklin Humane Society temporarily took over the shelter on an emergency contract. They managed it in partnership with the city of Pasco for about a year before the city took over direct operational management.
This story was originally published November 25, 2025 at 10:42 AM.
