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July 3, 2008

Wakita man enters blind guilty plea in cruelty to animals case

By Violet Spader, Staff Writer

MEDFORD — A Wakita man accused of cruelty to animals entered a blind plea of guilty Monday.

George Wesley Gilchrist was set to stand trial in Grant County District Court Monday on seven felony counts of cruelty to animals and two misdemeanor counts of leaving a carcass in a well, spring, pond or stream.

Gilchrist didn’t make a deal with the state, according to Assistant District Attorney Steven Young. A pre-sentence investigation has been ordered by the judge, Young said, to determine if Gilchrist is at risk of being a repeat offender.

Sentencing is scheduled for 9 a.m. Sept. 23.

Each felony cruelty to animals charge carries a punishment of up to $500, up to five years in prison or one year in county jail. The misdemeanor counts are punishable by county jail terms of one year and/or up to a $500 fine.

The case came to light in December 2006, after Grant County Sheriff’s Office deputies discovered the carcasses of about 34 domestic animals and a number of other decaying carcasses and bones at Gilchrist’s property, about nine miles north and four miles west of Medford, according to the affidavit.

Two mules were found dead in the animals’ only water source. Deputies also found two dead pigs and two other pig carcasses, according to the affidavit.

Six horses were seized from the property, and several others were euthanized.

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