California Horse Dealer Accused of Fraud

A California woman accused of misrepresenting horses she offered for sale on equine-related websites pleaded guilty to a federal fraud charge under a plea agreement filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles last week. Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph N. Akrotirianakis said that between Nov. 2004 and June 2008, Trina Lee Kenney of Wrightwood, Calif., allegedly made false claims abo
Share
Favorite
Close

No account yet? Register

ADVERTISEMENT

A California woman accused of misrepresenting horses she offered for sale on equine-related websites pleaded guilty to a federal fraud charge under a plea agreement filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles last week.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph N. Akrotirianakis said that between Nov. 2004 and June 2008, Trina Lee Kenney of Wrightwood, Calif., allegedly made false claims about the breed, registration status, health, abilities, and temperaments of horses she offered for sale on equine-focused websites including horsetopia.com, equine.com, agdirect.com, equinenow.com, and dreamhorse.com.

“In one case she drugged a horse that she claimed was safe for a child or a timid rider and painted other horses to the color horse she advertised," Akrotirianakis said. "In some cases buyers never received the horses they purchased."

Kenney's advertisements, some of which were placed under aliases, offered buyers a money back satisfaction guarantee. But she allegedly did not return calls or emails from dissatisfied customers and refused to return payments on misrepresented or undelivered horses, he said

Create a free account with TheHorse.com to view this content.

TheHorse.com is home to thousands of free articles about horse health care. In order to access some of our exclusive free content, you must be signed into TheHorse.com.

Start your free account today!

Already have an account?
and continue reading.

Share

Written by:

Pat Raia is a veteran journalist who enjoys covering equine welfare, industry, and news. In her spare time, she enjoys riding her Tennessee Walking Horse, Sonny.

Related Articles

Stay on top of the most recent Horse Health news with

FREE weekly newsletters from TheHorse.com

Sponsored Content

Weekly Poll

sponsored by:

Where do you primarily feed your horse?
292 votes · 292 answers

Readers’ Most Popular

Sign In

Don’t have an account? Register for a FREE account here.

Need to update your account?

You need to be logged in to fill out this form

Create a free account with TheHorse.com!