No action after dismissal in Placitas animal abuse case

PLACITAS, NM – Hours of time and thousands of dollars spent by animal rescue groups have yielded no results for the man accused of neglecting dozens of Australian shepherds.

KOB 4 has been following this case since February, from the initial seizure in Placitas to an unsuccessful court trial. We spoke to rescuers about the case, which is now closed.

The Placitas property looked very different nine months ago.

“I smell something dead on that side of the property, like it’s really rotting.”

It turned out to be much more than just one thing. Sandoval County deputies found multiple dead dogs and dozens of live and feral dogs on Paul Jaramillo’s property.

“What really pissed me off was the severed foot in the front yard.”

Deputies took Jaramillo into custody and charged him with 18 misdemeanor counts of cruelty to animals.

Investigators said Jaramillo and his wife had been breeding mini Australian shepherds with rare colors for years before the seizure.

“It was definitely a very challenging situation for our shelter,” said Mattie Allen, communications director for Española Humane.

Española Humane took 25 dogs from this property. They all need some veterinary care, and the shelter spends thousands spaying, neutering and vaccinating them, Allen said.

“It took a while for the dogs to recover. Some of them are still recovering behaviorally. It was a brutal situation,” Allen said.

A judge dismissed the case in August after lawmakers failed to show up for a scheduled hearing.

Days later, when the office refiled the charges, we interviewed the lieutenant about the case:

“I’ve seen some bad cases. I think this is one of the worst I’ve seen since then to kind of get involved and so we definitely want to get on top of that and make sure we deal with it properly.”

The MPs went to trial a month later.

Cibola Magistrate Judge Kenneth Eichwald allowed only a certain number of witnesses from the sheriff’s office to appear.

Judge Eichwald dismissed the case in early October, citing misconduct by the sheriff’s office. He later renounced two days later.

There has been no development in the case for 30 days.

“In my years of working at animal shelters, I have actually never been involved in a case that was prosecuted or where anyone was punished,” Allen said.

We reached out to the sheriff’s office three separate times last month to confirm that this case was closed but did not receive a response.

“Unfortunately, I’m not too surprised. It was still incredibly heartbreaking and we’re all wondering when our government will take animal cruelty seriously?” Allen said.

MORE: