Roghair in October 1997 sought help from ANIMAL PEOPLE, PETA, AnimalTalk host Dick Weevil, and Ohio animal rights attorney Shawn Thomas--who turned out to be pursuing a parallel investigation of his own, after finding some of the same web sites. On October 6, 1997, at Thomas' request, ANIMAL PEOPLE postponed publishing an article about crush videos to avoid jeopardizing the investigation. Cassandra Brown in November 1997 scooped ANIMAL PEOPLE.
Learning thereby of the British investigation, ANIMAL PEOPLE introduced the British and American investigators by e-mail. Unknown to any other investigators, the Suffolk County SPCA was separately closing in on crush video producer Thomas Capriola, 30, of Islip Terrace, Long Island.
Two days after Capriola was arrested in May 1998, ANIMAL PEOPLE introduced the Suffolk County SPCA investigators to Daly, Thomas, and Roghair. Capriola in December 2000 pleaded guilty to misdemeanor cruelty to animals and fifth-degree possession of marijuana, and was sentenced to serve 280 hours of community service with three years on probation.
The original investigation brought the August 1999 arrests and eventual plea bargain convictions of "crush video" star Diane Aileen Chaffin, 35, of La Puente, California, and producer Gary Lynn Thomason, 48, of Anaheim. Each drew a year in jail and three years on probation. Convicted in Britain were Craig Chapman, 27, Christine Besford, 26, Sarah Goode, 22, and Tharaza Smallwood, 22. Chapman was in May 2002 sentenced to serve two years in jail. The three women drew four months each. All four defendants were also fined and banned for life from keeping pets.
(From ANIMAL PEOPLE, January/February 2005) http://www.scaashanghai.org/Animal_Welfare_Law_China_Cat_Killer.shtmlLinkback:
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