Ex-Braceville Twp. woman convicted of animal cruelty

By ED RUNYAN

runyan@vindy.com

NEWTON FALLS

Melissa Giambrone, the former Braceville Township woman arrested in November after authorities found about a dozen horses, a cow and six fowl in poor condition at her state Route 82 farm, has pleaded guilty to nine misdemeanor charges.

Giambrone, 29, who now has a Cleveland address, was convicted Tuesday in Newton Falls Municipal Court on nine counts of cruelty to animals and was ordered to pay fines of $1,350 and court costs.

Judge Philip Vigorito sentenced Giambrone to 30 days in jail on each count but suspended all of it, meaning she will not serve any jail time as long as she abides by the terms of her two years’ probation.

Among those terms is a requirement that she have no contact with farm animals, said Atty. David Lake, who served as acting prosecutor.

Deputy Harold Firster of the Trumbull County Sheriff’s office arrested Giambrone on Nov. 27 after he was called to check on the animals. At the farm, near the Portage County line, he found most of them undernourished.

Several of the horses no longer had tails because the horse had eaten it off or another horse had eaten it, Firster said.

There was no hay, grain or any type of food visible in the barn, and the sheriff’s department and Braceville Police Department received about five calls in the previous two weeks about horses’ getting loose from the farm, apparently looking for food, Firster said.

Lake said he accepted a plea because Giambrone would have argued that she was not responsible for all of the neglect, as she had been out of state for three weeks at the point when Firster went to the farm. A man was responsible for the animals during those three weeks, Lake said.

But Annette Fisher, director of Happy Trails Farm in Ravenna, which took possession of many of the animals when Giambrone was arrested, said it took much longer than three weeks for the animals to get in such condition.

A Clydesdale was about 700 pounds underweight, Fisher said. The animal should have weighed about 2,000 pounds but weighed only 1,300.

One horse had to be euthanized, and another had a broken ankle, Fisher said. The ankle was apparently broken for about six months, but Giambrone failed to get medical care for it, Fisher said.

The animal received care at The Ohio State University and will return to Happy Trails later this week.

In all, Happy Trails spent around $22,000 to care for 11 horses and believes Giambrone’s offenses deserved jail time. In court Tuesday, Giambrone signed papers giving Happy Trails ownership of the last five horses and other animals so they can be adopted.

“I think any time you starve a horse and it needs four months in the hospital, there should have been jail time,” Fisher said.