U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT
Wyoming News Release
May 15, 2007
Two Wyoming men and two Utah men have been convicted for their involvement in the killing of a wild horse Sweetwater County Attorney, Brett Johnson announced today.
Clint Proffit, 41, of Diamondville, Wyoming, James Hoffman, 42, of Kemmerer, Wyoming, and Randy Hoffman, 53, of Randolph, Utah were each convicted of Conspiracy to Kill a Wild Horse and Property Destruction, both misdemeanors. Terry Reid, 48, of Dutch John, Utah was convicted of Conspiracy to Kill a Wild Horse and Accessory After the Fact, both misdemeanors. The four men were convicted in Circuit Court of the Third Judicial District, Sweetwater County, Rock Springs, Wyoming.
Proffit, Randy Hoffman, and Reid were sentenced to six months in the Sweetwater County Jail, all jail time suspended, six months of unsupervised probation, $1,000 fine, $200 to the Wyoming Victims Compensation Fund, $60 in court costs, and $125 restitution to the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) for killing of the wild horse. James Hoffman received the same sentence with all but two days suspended in the Sweetwater County Jail. Hoffman received credit for two days served.
During the spring of 2005, at the Ramsay Ranch south of Rock Springs, Wyoming, the Hoffmans roped a BLM wild horse stud and brought it to the ground. Proffit used a knife to castrate the horse. The horse died. Reid hauled the dead horse to a remote draw. The incident occurred within the BLM Salt Wells Wild Horse Management Area. The case was investigated by a BLM Special Agent and Ranger. The Sweetwater County Sheriffs Office, the Wyoming Game and Fish Department, and the Wyoming Livestock Board assisted BLM with the investigation.
This case is the first prosecution related to the unlawful killing of wild horses under a Wyoming state law passed in 2002. The passage of this law was a result of the shooting deaths of 37 BLM wild horses in Sweetwater County, Wyoming in 2001. In Wyoming the Unlawful Killing of Wild Horses is a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of $750, imprisonment for six months, or both.
New Cruelty Charges in Fatal Castration Case
The Associated Press
November 08 2006
A Utah man has been charged in the fatal castration of a wild horse. At least three people now face charges in the cruelty case.
Terry John Reid, 48, of Dutch John, was released on his own recognizance after an Oct. 31 initial appearance on charges of conspiracy to commit animal cruelty, conspiracy to kill a wild horse and being an accessory after the fact.
Two Kemmerer men, 40-year-old Clint Proffit and 41-year-old James R. Hoffman, were charged earlier with killing a wild horse, animal cruelty, conspiracy, property destruction, and defacement for allegedly performing the castration.
They, too, were released on their own recognizance.
Investigators said Reid had leased a ranch on Bureau of Land Management land and was branding cattle when the horse was castrated and bled to death on Feb. 9.
Reid allegedly told investigators he witnessed the castration and hauled the carcass to a spot about half a mile from the corrals.
Related Article:
Two charged with killing wild horse
By Gazette News Services
ROCK SPRINGS - Two Kemmerer men face a variety of charges after allegedly killing a wild horse by castrating it.
Clint Proffit, 40, and James R. Hoffman, 41, made initial court appearances last week on charges of killing a wild horse, animal cruelty, conspiracy, property destruction and defacement. Both were released on their own recognizance.
According to court documents, Bureau of Land Management officers interviewed Proffit, Hoffman and others who were present on Feb. 9, when the wild horse walked into a corral where livestock was being branded. Three other men, including Hoffman's brother Randy, of Woodruff, Utah, told investigators that Hoffman and Proffit participated in roping and castrating the horse.
Proffit and Hoffman both told investigators they couldn't talk about the castration, and Proffit allegedly told investigators he believed the horse died from a heart attack brought on by old age.
