Pennsylvania Farm Fires Kelsey Lefever

In the wake of Monday's Paulick Report article detailing the criminal charges against Kelsey Lefever – the 24-year-old Honeybrook, Pa., woman accused of deceptive business practices and theft by deception involving an alleged horse adoption for slaughter scam – Great Scott Farm in Malvern, Pa., has terminated Lefever's recently acquired position at the farm as a riding instructor.

On both its Facebook page and website (www.greatscottfarm.com), the farm announced that it is no longer associated with Lefever, who is free on $20,000 bail and awaiting a Feb. 6 court date on the three felony and two misdemeanor charges.

“We do not employ, nor are we associated with Kelsey Lefever,” a brief statement on the farm's website states.

On its Facebook page, Great Scott Farm goes into greater detail:

“Today we at Great Scott Farm were alerted to the articles regarding Kelsey Lefever, who was hired here on a trial basis less than 1 month ago. At the time that she applied for the position, all of the references on her resume checked out, and there was no mention of this pending criminal trial. We do not support her actions and she was immediately dismissed from her position today as an instructor upon us learning of her activities. We are a family business and try hard to have a positive atmosphere for kids to learn horsemanship in, and WE only sell horses to approved homes, never at auction. Please be aware that we have taken immediate action to remove her from our facility and we apologize for any concerns it may cause. “

Connor Langan, the trainer and manager of Great Scott, reiterated that statement in an interview with the Paulick Report Tuesday morning.

“We made the decision based on the fact we are family farm, it's family run and owned,” said Langan. “It's not an atmosphere for anything like that at all. We want all of our clients to feel safe that their kids are riding here.”

Langan said Lefever was hired shortly after Christmas for a probationary period, which he said is standard with the farm's policies. Lefever taught approximately a half-dozen lessons, and Langan said he saw nothing untoward in her behavior around the horses or students. “I never saw her do anything in front of me or a client that made me suspicious,” he said.

Langan said he was “very shocked” to learn of the charges against Lefever, especially since the references he got on her were positive. “All of her behavior around the animals was extremely caring and loving as if she was an owner of the horse itself.”

Lefever is accused of deceiving two horse owners at Penn National racecourse in Grantsville, Pa., by indicating to them she would make every effort to retrain and re-home their retired Thoroughbred racehorses. Within days of Lefever taking possession of the horses (and allegedly receiving $200 and 10 bags of horse feed to care for one of the animals), the four horses were discovered on a trailer owned by kill-buyer Bruce Rotz at the New Holland horse auction in Lancaster County, Pa. The horses were subsequently shipped to a slaughter plant in Quebec, Canada.

In conversations Lefever allegedly had with a friend who was not involved in the criminal charges, Lefever suggested the incident involving the four horses was not isolated. “I killed every one of those f—ing horses, over 120 of them,” she allegedly said to Amy Groninger, who told officials she has known Lefever for about four years.

The case against Lefever is outlined here.

New to the Paulick Report? Click here to sign up for our daily email newsletter to keep up on this other stories happening in the Thoroughbred industry.