Reardon pleads guilty to animal abuse charges

Nevada Daily Mail

Thomas Reardon, 58, of Milo, pleaded guilty in a Vernon County court Tuesday to four animal abuse charges under a plea agreement, in connection with the January 2012 incident in which the Vernon County Sheriff's Office and the Humane Society of Missouri rescued 16 horses and two mules from the Reardon farm east of Milo, Mo.

A long-running situation at the Reardon farm where neighbors and passersby had complained about dead and starving horses since 2008 culminated in the January horse rescue.

The Nevada Daily Mail reported at the time that when rescuers arrived on the property, one of the horses was near death and lying on the ground. A horse that rescuers named Tumbleweed was too weak to stand and had to be loaded onto a sled to be placed in the transport vehicle. Tumbleweed received four days of intensive treatment at an equine veterinary hospital before the horse was strong enough to be taken to HSMO's Longmeadow Rescue Ranch to complete its recovery.

Dr. Royce Wilson, the district veterinarian for the Missouri Department of Agriculture, told the Daily Mail in January that the property could support six animals if it were not heavily damaged from overgrazing.

Reardon was later charged with 18 counts of felony animal abuse.

On Tuesday, in a plea agreement, Reardon pleaded guilty to three counts of misdemeanor animal abuse and one count of felony animal abuse. Presiding 28th Circuit Judge James Bickel sentenced Reardon to a suspended sentence of one year in the county jail, with two years of probation, on the misdemeanor charges, and another suspended sentence with five years' probation on the felony charge.

Reardon also was ordered to pay all court costs and restitution of $13,249; and may not possess any animals.