LISBON − A 45-year-old Salem Township woman who once operated stables where five dead horses were found — with at least four that were deprived of food and water — pleaded not guilty May 8 in Columbiana County Municipal Court to five misdemeanor counts of animal cruelty and four counts of improper disposition of dead or destroyed animals.
The woman once operated Pure Gold Stables and Equestrian Center in Salem Township. The Canton Repository usually does not identify defendants charged with only misdemeanors.
A pretrial date was scheduled for Aug. 5.
A message seeking comment was left after hours on May 8 for the woman’s attorney Ronald Yarwood.
Gruesome discovery
In late October, a woman leasing the Pure Gold stables property reported finding the remains of four horses in a pen in a barn. The skeletal remains of a fifth horse were found in a burn pit at the site.
A sheriff’s report later said, “The four horses were believed to have been locked in the barn and starved to death. … It was stated that seven other horses were on the property and in poor health.”
The owner of the stables told sheriff’s deputies that she believes that a former employee killed the horses with poison, and they died earlier in 2025. The owner said she had sought to get heavy machinery to bury the remains.
The prosecutor’s office said the Columbiana County Sheriff’s Detective Bureau had to transport the remains of the horses for animal autopsies at Michigan State University in Lansing, Michigan.
The necropsies found evidence that the horses had suffered from dehydration and starvation, the prosecutor’s statement said.
Reach Robert at robert.wang@cantonrep.com.
This article originally appeared on The Repository: Salem Twp. stable owner charged with animal cruelty, starving horses to death
Reporting by Robert Wang, Canton Repository / The Repository
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