Somerton man sentenced for animal abuse

Jesse James is alive and well.

Not Jesse James, the outlaw - Jesse James, a black mustang rescued from severe neglect at a Somerton home in December.

Jesse James' new owner, John Harrington, says the mustang has recovered nicely, although true to his new name, he's still a little on the wild side.

The former owner, Matthew Ashby, has been fined $3,000 and sentenced to two years of supervised probation after pleading guilty to neglecting wild horses and a burro he had adopted through a government program.

Appearing this week before U.S. Magistrate Jay Irwin of Yuma, Ashby was ordered to pay $365 in restitution.

Ashby adopted Jesse James, other wild horses and a wild burro from the U.S. Bureau of Land Management in April 2006. He was charged in February of this year with four counts of inhumane treatment of three wild horses and one wild burro, and four counts of violation of terms of adoption.

The charges were filed after authorities were called to his property in the 14600 block of South Avenue A-1/2 based on complaints of abuse concerning a privately owned horse that was pregnant. The horse was in such an advanced stage of malnutrition that a veterinarian had to euthanize it, the BLM said at the time, while a newborn foal from that horse was also dead.

Ashby pleaded guilty in April to two counts of inhumane treatment of two adopted wild horses.

Jesse James and other surviving animals were turned over to Triple R Ranch, an area nonprofit rescue group.

"They spent almost three months at (Triple R) getting fed and getting back into condition," said Roger Oyler, the BLM wild horse and burro specialist in Yuma.

After being placed on a strict diet of grass and hay and getting badly needed foot care, three horses and a burro were ready for placement back in the BLM adoption program, Oyler said.

The burro is now happily living with another Yuma-area resident, Oyler said, while two horses rescued from the Ashby property were sent to the BLM's Ridgecrest Holding Facility in California pending adoption in that state.

Jesse James "was in pretty feisty spirits" when Harrington and his family got him in March, Oyler said.

"He's doing really well," Harrington said Thursday. "He loving it where he's at."

Harrington figures Jesse James is 2 or 3 years old. He plans to keep him for riding, although the mustang is not quite tamed for that.

"He's not exactly rideable, but he's real friendly with the family," said Harrington, who has two sons.

"My son actually picked the name for him - he thought he was wild just like (the outlaw)."