Horse owners claim the student sold the animals to Mexican meat houses, according to several reports.
An Alabama veterinary school student allegedly promised lies to horse owners who wanted better homes for their beloved animals.
Fallon Blackwood, 24, was allegedly selling the horses to slaughterhouses instead.
Blackwood, who attends Tuskegee University, has been charged on 13 counts of bringing into the state property obtained by false pretense with the intent to defraud.
A Georgia horse owner, Lindsay Rosentrater, told AL.com that she entrusted Blackwood to find a retirement home for her horse Willie after she could no longer afford to care for the aging animal. She said Blackwood had immediately responded to a Craigslist post about her situation.
Rosentrater claimed she was taken off-guard in 2018 when Blackwood arrived at her home after a three-hour drive and wanted to take Willie that day.
“Every couple of days I checked in,’’ Rosentrater said. “But I asked her for a photo of Willie, and she wouldn’t send me one. I asked her repeatedly.”
Later, Rosentrater told AL.com, she realized her mistake when she saw Blackwood’s name in a Facebook group that lists people who allegedly do business with kill-buyers.
The Blount County district attorney said the missing horses are probably no longer living, according to DailyMail.com.
Many of the owners who were allegedly duped believe the horses were sold to Mexican meat houses, according to several reports.
“She was getting the horses and telling the owners they were going to nice pasture land and would happily live their days out. What she was doing was taking the horses to slaughter,” Macon County Sheriff Andre Brunson told WTVM. “... Slaughtered to potentially be made into dog food is what is believed to have happened to some of the horses that landed in Blackwood’s possession.”
Blackwood has been bonded out of jail since her arrest.
She was expected to graduate college in May.
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