LAKE ELSINORE: Owner in animal cruelty case to pay $88K to PETA
BY SARAH BURGE |
April 16, 2014; 02:36 PM
The owner of a Lake Elsinore exotic animal business – where thousands of dead or dying rats and reptiles were found in revolting conditions following an undercover investigation by animal-rights activists – has avoided jail time but was ordered to pay more than $190,000 in restitution.
Mitchell Steven Behm, 55, of Coto de Caza, the owner of Global Captive Breeders, admitted to a dozen misdemeanor counts of animal cruelty in a plea agreement with prosecutors April 3. Behm was sentenced Wednesday, April 16, to five years’ probation and 200 hours’ community service. Under the terms of his probation, he will not be allowed to keep animals or be involved with animal-related businesses.
Judge Judith Clark ordered Behm to pay more than $102,000 to the city and about $88,000 to People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, which uncovered the conditions at the business and helped with the cleanup.
Behm declined to comment after the hearing Wednesday, April 16, at the Southwest Justice Center in French Valley.
Behm and the former manager, David Delgado, had been charged with more than 100 counts each of felony animal cruelty.
Delgado, 30, of Rialto, has pleaded guilty to a dozen counts of felony animal cruelty. He is scheduled for sentencing May 22 and faces a maximum of five years, four months in jail.
John Hall, a spokesman for the Riverside County district attorney’s office, emphasized the lengthy probation period ordered for Behm and the importance of restitution, which might have taken years to get if the case had gone to trial.
As part of the plea deal, Behm has already repaid most of the amount. The balance is due within 90 days.
In December 2012, more than 18,000 rats – bred for use as reptile food – and hundreds of reptiles were seized from Global Captive Breeders. Any rats and reptiles that weren’t already dead were euthanized during the cleanup of the 3rd Street facility, which had been open since 2009.
PETA called it the largest-ever seizure of animals in California.
The organization had launched its own investigation of Global Captive Breeders months earlier and, after gathering evidence through an undercover informant working there, reported the business to officials. PETA posted videos on its website showing maggot-ridden reptile carcasses, rats struggling to keep their heads above water in flooded bins, an employee shooting a rat with a BB gun and more.
Willa Bagwell, executive director of the nonprofit animal control provider Animal Friends of the Valleys, said dozens of people worked for eight days sorting through the rotting carcasses. She said the stench was overwhelming and there were rats and large snakes loose in the building.
“It’s too bad he got the place cleaned up for him instead of having to do it himself,” she said of Behm.
Bagwell said she would have preferred to see Behm do jail time.
“We just don’t want him to be around animals,” she said.
Dan Paden, a PETA spokesman, said in an email that the probation terms accomplish PETA’s “most important goal – to keep Behm and Delgado away from animals for as long as legally possible.”
“Behm’s restitution to PETA,” he added, “will allow us to continue to expose such cruelty to animals, wherever it occurs.”
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