Another Greyhound Breeder Accused of Illegal Activity

Well, it comes with the territory. If you raise animals to be abused, then you’re probably a pretty sick person.

Article:

Greyhound Breeder Under Scrutiny

http://www.theintelligencer.net/News/articles.asp?articleID=17018

By CASEY JUNKINS

WHEELING — Paul Carbonneau, who earned more than $330,000 from breeding greyhound racing dogs in 2006, is under investigation for allegedly falsifying 35 health certificates for his dogs, according to George T. Sidiropolis, chairman of the West Virginia Racing Commission.

“At this time, Mr. Carbonneau’s dogs have been scratched from running at Tri-State Racetrack and Gaming Center in Cross Lanes because of suspicions we have about the validity of 35 of his health certificates,” Sidiropolis said.

“All of Mr. Carbonneau’s greyhounds are to be quarantined and segregated from the other dogs at Tri-State, which means none of his dogs are permitted on the track,” Sidiropolis said, noting he was unsure whether this would mean the dogs could be diseased or possibly on performance enhancing drugs.

Sidiropolis said the investigation of Carbonneau stems from an inspection conducted at Tri-State Monday, as well as a fax machine message sent to the West Virginia Racing Commission on Tuesday morning.

“On Monday, one of our inspectors showed up at Tri-State for a routine check and while he was reading the health certificates for Mr. Carbonneau’s dogs, 35 of them appeared suspicious to him. All 35 of these certificates had the signature of Dr. Bob Wilson from Grand Prairie, Texas,” Sidiropolis said.

“Because the certificates looked suspicious, our inspector called Dr. Wilson to ask him about the dogs, “ he said.

On Tuesday morning, the Racing Commission received a fax message from Wilson that was forwarded to The Intelligencer, and it states:

“I have not vaccinated any of the animals in his (Carbonneau’s) care for the past three years. Therefore, I have not issued him any vaccination certificates during this period of time, nor did I issue health certificates for him to travel from one state to another. Needless to say, anything signed by me in regards to items in this paragraph would be fraudulent and considered forgery.”

When Wilson was contacted Tuesday, he responded by saying, “My attorney has advised me not to comment about this any further.”

Sidiropolis said a complete and thorough investigation of Carbonneau is forthcoming.

“We are going to review each and every health certificate he has to find out where these dogs have been born, raised and treated,” he said.

Sidiropolis said Carbonneau has most of his dogs at Tri-State, but also runs some at Wheeling Island Racetrack and Gaming Center.

“Mr. Carbonneau currently runs five greyhounds at our track,” said Kim Florence, spokeswoman for the Wheeling Island track.

“We are waiting to see how the Racing Commission is going to handle this to see what we should do,” Florence added.

Sidiropolis said Carbonneau has been ordered to appear before the board of judges in a conference room at Tri-State at 6:35 p.m. today.

Messages left for Carbonneau at his residence were not returned.