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MONTH: November 2006

Class action in greyhound theft for sale to labs case

 

MILWAUKEE--Greyhound racing trainer George Panos, of Hudson, Wisconsin, in mid-October 2006 filed a class action lawsuit on behalf of as many as 1,000 racing dog owners against former Greyhound Adoption of Iowa president Daniel Shonka for allegedly selling dogs to laboratories without the owners' consent. Shonka claimed to be placing the dogs in good homes, the suit alleges.

Shonka on February 6, 2003 pleaded guilty to both felony and misdemeanor theft of greyhounds by fraud. The owners were told either that Shonka was racing their dogs at the now defunct St. Croix Meadows Greyhound Racing Park in Hudson, Wisconsin, or that he had placed the dogs in homes.

Instead, said Wisconsin Division of Gaming chief administrator Scott Scepaniak, Shonka sold approximately 1,050 greyhounds to the Guidant Corporation for use in cardiac research. He was paid between $374,000 and $500,000, according to court documents.

St. Croix County Judge Scott Needham sentenced Shonka to serve nine months in jail, followed by four years on probation, and to pay fines and restitution totaling $110,000.