- Kentucky, USA -
~ UPDATE: April 29, 22
25-years-old XAVIER MCGRAPTH (pictured) is set to enter a plea of guilty as charged in an animal cruelty case related to a Kentucky boarding business he used to run.
On April 26, 2022, MCGRAPTH’s attorney filed a motion with the Bourbon County District Court which will be heard by Judge Mary Jane Phelps on May 11, 2022.
MCGRAPTH had been scheduled to go to trial on second degree animal cruelty charges on May 12, 2022, and had already engaged in some negotiations with prosecutors that had pushed back his trial from February.
Source:
~ UPDATE: October 16, 2021
A trial date has been set in the case of 24-years-old XAVIER MCGRAPTH (pictured below).
According to Paulick Report, Bourbon District Court Judge Mary Jane Phelps set a pre-trial hearing date for January 26, 2022 with a jury trial scheduled to follow February 24, 2022.
The animal cruelty case MCGRAPTH is involved in stems from an investigation into horses abandoned on a farm he ran.
MCGRAPTH was arrested on April 13, and charged with thirteen counts of animal cruelty in the second degree.
MCGRAPTH has entered a plea of not guilty in the case.
~ Original story:
On March 19, the Bourbon County Sheriff’s Office and the Kentucky Department of Agriculture launched an investigation into horses abandoned on a farm operating under the name Whispering Creek Thoroughbreds.
The poor horses were found neglected and malnourished.
On April 13, Bourbon County Sheriff deputies arrested 24-year-old XAVIER MCGRAPTH (pictured below), whom authorities say is the operator of McGrapth Breaking and Training and Whispering Creek Thoroughbreds.
MCGRAPTH was charged with 13 counts of animal cruelty in the second degree.
It appeared that he had been starving some of the horses under his care, and that at least two of them died.
As reported by Paulick Report, the Bourbon County Sheriff's Office became aware of the case when a client of MCGRAPTH’s, Alyssa Evans, came to the farm to check on her pregnant mare and saw two dead horses in a field near the barn.
Ms. Evans removed her mare and alerted the Sheriff’s Office.
According to Thoroughbred Daily News, at that point, Dr. Zach Logan, a local veterinarian, was called in and inspected 23 horses.
Dr. Logan reported eleven horses were malnourished or severely malnourished and two others were deceased.
Thoroughbred Daily News reports that the day after MCGRAPTH’s arrest, the Sheriff’s Office released a statement which read “On the afternoon of April 13, 2021, Xavier McGrapth who is a suspect in an active investigation involving Equine in Bourbon County came into the Bourbon Sheriff's Office for an interview. Upon conclusion of the interview McGrapth was arrested on an active warrant that was tied to the same case. The Bourbon County Sheriff's Office and the Bourbon County Attorney's Office are working closely together to bring this case to a close. At this time, all horses involved have been removed from the Farm and have been relocated to facilities to best suit the care they need.”
Blood Horse reports that MCGRAPTH, of Versailles, is out on a $2,000 bond and has yet to be arraigned.
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Details may be removed or additional information may be provided in future should such sources report an update.
