Steffen Baldwin guilty and sentenced to 15 1/2 years in prison.

 Steffen Baldwin, Ohio's fraud "dog rehabilitation specialist" has been tried for animal cruelty and theft.  He has been sentenced to 15 1/2 years in prison. Per those present in the courtroom, he will serve 8 years before he is eligible to even request early release.  He was led from the courtroom in handcuffs. 

This is a fine thing. Well done and thanks to those responsible for bringing this man to justice. 

Both Baldwin and Ohio's other fraud dog advocate, Luke Westerman have been dealt justice for their crimes.  It's a good day.     

Westerman pleads guilty to 19 counts of financial fraud.

 One of the Ohio pair of pit bull fraudsters, Luke Westerman entered a guilty plea in the financial fraud case against him.  This case has meandered through the courts endlessly but came to an end yesterday with the guilty plea.  It is to be hoped that Steffen Baldwin's case will soon conclude as well.  Baldwin is scheduled to stand trial in early December.   

Westerman's guilty plea covered 19 unlawful securities practices.  It is possible Westerman might serve a total of 31 years and 6 months in prison for these crimes but the prosecution and the defense jointly recommend PSI, Community Control - 5 years, and restitution of $1,096,656.09.  The recommendation is not binding upon the court. Given the fact that Westerman's reported wealth was either stolen from his clients or totally imaginary, how is he going to manage restitution? 

Quick review, Westerman posed as a wealthy entrepreneur heading multiple businesses.  This status allowed him to virtue signal endlessly, pushing pit bulls became a huge sideline.  The partnership between Westerman and Baldwin caused the suffering of animals in Baldwin's case and financial pain to those who invested with or worked for Westerman.   Click here for a quick review.  For a far more comprehensive look at Westerman please read Unmasking a con on Dogsbite.org   

To be fair, who would trust this individual with their money?  Westerman is scheduled to be sentenced on November 18th.  


 For some insights into Westerman's fraud and thought process, please click here.  This is how Westerman presented himself to the world. His self-satisfaction was both stunning and laughable.   

We look forward to Baldwin's trial.  

News coverage from the Marysville Journal-Tribune on Steffen Baldwin's arrest and charges. Baldwin faces a possible 81 years in prison.

The article is behind a paywall but it is worth the 49 cent price, WAY worth it!  Spend the 49 cents, you won't be sorry but you will be angry. 

https://www.marysvillejt.com/news/animal-advocate-indicted-for-cruelty/?fbclid=IwAR2l9XvcEYscRTfdGg9BDSgU4Xrv9fjfTCOuW2c1MhjGis7dmF7rrvCtJLQ



A quote from the article.  "“I am not sure we are ever going to know the total number of animals he killed,” said Union County Prosecutor Dave Phillips. “I certainly think the total exceeds the number of indictments. ”

Here is another " Phillips said Baldwin would allegedly tell people he was taking dogs into rescue or adopt them.

“Then he would raise money for these dogs – for their care, for their adoption, for their training – but had allegedly euthanized them,” Phillips said.

He said Baldwin had, “a pattern of lying to people to raise money.”

The indictments indicate Baldwin took funds from a variety of animal shelters, organizations and individuals throughout the state and nation.

“The allegations indicate the money he raised for the animals, even after they were euthanized were used for his personal expenses,” Phillips said, listing gifts for his girlfriend as well as strip clubs.

The indictments also allege Baldwin lied on his resume to get his position in Union County and that he lied on court documents, saying he was bit by an aggressive dog.

Also included in the indictment is the allegation that he stole a handgun from an animal rescue task force."

What the hell, here is another "(Phillips) said that when it was time to serve the indictment and arrest Baldwin, police in California invited Baldwin to conduct an animal training for the department. When Baldwin arrived, U.S. Marshals arrested him."  Picture it.  

8/1/2020 Update

We had forgotten about this and it deserves to be seen again.  My thanks to the advocate who saved
and posted it today. 

Fraud and pit bull advocacy. Who would have expected this?

The money train that funds pit bull advocacy leaves the station in New York state from the farm owned by Jane Berkey, and headquarters of the Animal Farm Foundation.

A couple of years ago the Berkey-owned and funded AFF began placing shelter pit bulls, trained by Universal K9, with under-funded police departments in cash-poor communities as single purpose drug detection "police dogs."  These dogs were free to the communities and came with large public relations promotions.

Research on the program and the dogs revealed extremely limited training, dangerously limited training.  The AFF bragged shamelessly about these single-purpose dogs but fraud hung over this enterprise like a dirty cloud.  Fast forward to recent developments.  The owner and operator of Universal K9, Brad Croft, trainer paid by the Animal Farm Foundation to train shelter pit bulls as police dogs, was raided by the FBI, the IRS, and local humane investigators.  Croft has been arrested and charged with fraud and other crimes.

Animals 24/7 has done an excellent post on this ugly situation.  The post begins with this quote.  "The pit bull advocacy organization Animal Farm Foundation,  of Bangal,  New York,  had already had a difficult week,  even before a federal grand jury in San Antonio,  Texas on August 23,  2018 returned an indictment against Bradley Croft,  46,  on eight counts of wire fraud,  four counts of aggravated identity theft,  and two counts of money laundering.

Croft was the trainer whom the Animal Farm Foundation funded from 2013 to 2017 to prepare pit bulls for police work.

Please read what has been written by Merritt Clifton and Beth Clifton on the Animals 24/7 website.  Here is a link. There are so many angles on this mess that it makes your head spin.

Communities still using dogs trained by Croft should be VERY concerned about legal liability.  Bred for blood-sport stray dogs obtained from shelters desperate to unload unplaceable pit bulls placed through a fraudulent training program?  What could go wrong?

Brad Croft

For those interested in more reading on this.  Click here.   And here.  And here.



For more on the Animal Farm Foundation supplied and funded pit bull police dogs, here are photos of the dogs and their handlers plus a map of locations.   Handy. Lawyers for anyone injured by any of these dogs should find VERY deep pockets.  Suspect the page will not last long.  Get screenshots.