Breeder who kept dogs in ‘deplorable’ conditions found guilty of animal neglect

TIPPECANOE COUNTY, Ind. (WLFI) – A Tippecanoe County man accused of animal neglect has been found guilty of all charges during his trial in a Tippecanoe County courtroom Tuesday.

Thurman “Randy” Sanders was found guilty of all three charges of neglect of a vertebrate animal.

It’s a case that’s been going since 2012, when the Tippecanoe County Health Department found a barn on the dog breeder’s property and ruled it a public health hazard due to concerns of improper ventilation.

Despite a divided vote by the Tippecanoe County Board of Zoning Appeals, in May of 2014, Sanders was required to take care of ventilation and temperature control on the barn where the animals were kept. But two months later, after an additional 30-day reprieve, Sanders was not in compliance as promised.

But after months of a back-and-forth battle of shutdown and reopening the kennel, in April 2015, Tippecanoe County Animal Control officers removed seven dogs from the property.

Seth Kirkendall with Tippecanoe County Animal control was the one to visit Sanders property after a concerned caller complained about seeing a dog limping in the yard. He talked to News 18 about the conditions the dogs were living in.

“They were quite deplorable,” said Kirkendall. “Almost to the point where you couldn’t hardly walk into the barn without your nose burning.”

Crystal Creek Kennel volunteer Patti Wolff helped treat the dogs after they were taken from his property. She says it was awful. Wolf says she didn’t have to see the conditions they were living in to know they were mistreated.

The dogs were covered in feces, had lice, and intestinal worms.Wolff said they also had behavioral issues.

“They were so scared, it was almost like a feral dog that has never been in human contact,” said Wolff.

Both Wolf and Kirkendall testified in court as well as a veterinarian who described the pain of two dogs specifically.

One dog had to have their eye removed and another had a hip problem needing surgery and pain medicine.

“It states in the statute that it’s criminal, this is what happens,” said Kirkendall referring to Sander’s guilty verdict.

He’s glad the judge recognized this as a serious crime.

“Scored one for the good guys on this one,” said Kirkendall. “Hopefully, like I said, it will show people that, hey, we mean what we say when we say keep care of your animals.”

A judge ruled in April of 2015 that Sanders could not have his dogs back. The judge said he was allowed to keep his household dog named Spud but had to get the dog fixed.

Sanders was back again in court in July 2015 because he defied the judge’s orders to neuter Spud. Due to those actions, he was held in contempt of court and jailed.

Sanders was eventually released from jail after posting a $250 bond for his charges, but he said he will not hand over his dog.

At one point in 2015, he had fines totaling more than $70,000.

On Tuesday, the state attempted to get Sanders in custody until his sentencing, but the judge denied their request saying he isn’t a flight risk.

Prosecutors said they were concerned about the goats living on his property but couldn’t provide evidence Sanders was mistreating them.

Sanders’ sentencing is scheduled for April 27.