2 former Tri-Cities shelter leaders plead innocent to 48 dog and cat cruelty charges

The former directors of Neo’s Nation, which ran the Tri-Cities Animal Shelter for less than a year, are headed to trial on dozens of counts of animal cruelty charges.

Rebecca Howard and Justin Hernandez appeared in Franklin County Superior Court on Tuesday in their first court appearance related to 48 counts of animal cruelty.

Pasco, Kennewick and Richland provide funding and oversight for animal control services and the shelter, but the facility itself is owned and now operated by the city of Pasco.

In September, the Attorney General’s Office filed 16 charges each against Howard, Hernandez and the nonprofit Neo’s Nation itself. They each face two counts of felony first-degree animal cruelty and 14 counts of second-degree animal cruelty, a gross misdemeanor.

Hernandez and Howard entered pleas of “not guilty” on all counts Tuesday. Paperwork was not completed for the Neo’s Nation charges, so Judge David Petersen said the attorneys can return to court to fix that next week.

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 and Neo’s Nation were represented in court by Betancourt Law Office of Richland and Hernandez was represented by Randall Jameson Jr.,also of Richland. Betancourt Law was the registered agent listed for Neo’s Nation.

A registered agent is the legal point of contact for a nonprofit. While a registered agent is required to accept service of process when a lawsuit is filed, they are not necessarily part of a nonprofit’s governance.

Howard and Hernandez are due back in court in December.

Animal cruelty charges

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. It is being handled by Assistant Attorney General Scott Halloran, paralegal Virginia Castro and legal assistant Sydney Stern.

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, Veterinarian Denise Wilson with Horse Heaven Hills Pet Urgent Care arranged for weekly visits, according to court documents.

Then, in October 2021 a Pasco animal control officer, Cherie Jackson, called Pasco police to report animal abuse. Pasco Detective Julie Lee initiated the animal cruelty and neglect investigation.

Jackson 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.

The veterinarian released the dog to the custody of a rescue organization, where Brandt was cared for until he 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 on an animal unless under the supervision of a licensed veterinarian or vet tech, including care as limited as ear flushing or bandaging animals, according to court documents.

When a search warrant was executed 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, with a sign saying it was closed to the public, 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.

Embezzlement charges

The nonprofit’s finance officer, Julie Chambers, will be headed to trial early next year on first-degree theft and money laundering charges. Chambers allegedly stole more than $300,000 from the nonprofit and used it to buy a house, which she then rented to her daughter, according to court documents.

Chambers, Howard and Hernandez also gave themselves $25,000 in bonuses in a closed door vote with no other board members present.

The alleged embezzlement was discovered when Chambers’ daughter-in-law, who was Howard’s daughter, went to police suspecting something was amiss after Chambers suddenly decided to try to sell the home and move to California.

Chambers was not included in the animal cruelty charges.