Former pet shop owner pleads guilty in animal cruelty case
Apr. 5—The former owner of a Burnside pet shop that was shut down by law enforcement last September has pleaded guilty to resolve three separate cases in Pulaski District Court.
Timothy Charles Lorraine, 62, of Whitley City, changed his plea last Wednesday and was sentenced to 365 days in jail, probated for 24 months, and was fined a total of $7,100.
Two of the cases were investigated by Burnside Police Department and involved 19 counts and 34 counts, respectively, of second-degree Animal Cruelty stemming from an investigation dating back to April 2021 into Tim's Reptiles and Exotics, which had been located off South US 27 at the former Tri County Flea Market.
According to the warrant served on Lorraine by Kentucky Fish and Wildlife, the animals inside the shop were subjected to "cruel and injurious treatment through failure to provide adequate food, drink, space [and] health care."
During the September 1 execution of the search and seizure warrant, Burnside Police led the investigation assisted by Pulaski County Animal Control, the Kentucky Department of Fish & Wildlife Special Investigation Unit, the Pulaski County Attorney's Office and the Somerset-Pulaski County Humane Society.
Due to the scale of the operation, the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) — based in Washington, DC — was also enlisted by BPD to help rescue some 150 exotic animals that were in the shop when it was shut down. Of that number, Burnside Police Chief Mike Hill estimated that there were 80 animals — like snakes, lizards, turtles, rabbits, guinea pigs, hamsters, gerbils — to process with the remainder being fish.
Chief Hill told the Commonwealth Journal at the time that authorities were on scene for more than seven hours.
It was for these two cases that Lorraine received a year-long sentence, for which he is under unsupervised probation for two years.
The third case was brought by Kentucky Department of Fish & Wildlife Resources and involved 16 counts of Buying, Selling, or Transporting Protected Wildlife as well as two counts of Resident Commercial License Violation — for which he was fined another $1,800.
In addition to the fines — basically $100 for each count across the three cases — Lorraine has been ordered to commit no further violations of law and prohibited from owning, operating, volunteering at, or being employed by "any business (for profit or not for profit) that involves animals of any kind."
Lorraine has until January 25, 2023, to pay his fines.
