Pair pleaded guilty to violating the Oklahoma Veterinary Practice Act
OKLAHOMA CITY – Two Tulsa Humane Society employees appeared before the Oklahoma State Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners on Friday and pleaded guilty to the animals’ unlawful deaths.
Gina Garner, Tulsa Humane Society president, and Lawrence DePriest, a veterinary assistant, were charged in October with violating the Oklahoma Veterinary Practice Act by unlawfully practicing veterinary medicine by administering euthanasia drugs without the direction and supervision of a licensed veterinarian.
Both Garner and DePriest were ordered to pay $5,000 each, said Cathy Kirkpatrick, Executive Director of the state agency.
The board went into executive session for about 20 minutes before returning to open session, Kirkpatrick said.
“They will be required to pay the fine in three payments – $1,800, $1,600 and $1,600,” Kirkpatrick said.
WHAT HAPPENED?
On July 5, the Second Chance Pet Rescue, a no-kill shelter in Grove, was visited by the Tulsa Humane Society under the guise the Tulsa organization was at the overcrowded Grove shelter to assess the dogs, assist the interim managers, provide training and help with vaccinations for the animals.
Click here for more information about the Second Chance Pet Rescue of Grand Lake.
Instead of assisting, Gardner and DePriest euthanized a puppy and 10 dogs and took 22 dogs to Tulsa for adoption. Part of this process was removing the drugs from the locked storage cabinet in Tulsa and unlawfully transporting the drugs to Grove.
A surveillance video of the Grove shelter caught DePriest administering sedation drugs to three dogs and the observation of an unattended drug box that contained controlled dangerous substances.
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