Hours Before Trial Begins, 1 of 2 Admits Animal Abuse

The longtime partner of former tiger sanctuary operator John Weinhart pleaded guilty to animal cruelty and child endangerment charges Monday, hours before the pair’s criminal trial was scheduled to begin in Riverside County.

Marla Jean Smith, 49, said she pleaded guilty to spare their 10-year-old son, a key prosecution witness, the trauma of testifying against her later this week.

Weinhart, 62, and Smith were each charged with 63 counts of animal cruelty and child endangerment after county officials in April 2003 raided Weinhart’s Glen Avon compound and found 58 dead tiger cubs, dozens of adult tigers’ carcasses and animals that were malnourished.

“She did the right thing for a mom to do,” said her attorney, Regina Filippone.Smith pleaded guilty to all counts and is scheduled to be sentenced March 10. The plea was accepted by Riverside County Superior Court Judge Ronald Taylor, who then said Smith could get 120 days in jail and three years’ probation.

After the plea, Weinhart’s trial began and included testimony from one of the county officials who raided his Glen Avon compound.

Authorities were stunned to discover the 58 tiger cubs stuffed in freezers, dozens of carcasses of full-grown tigers scattered around the property, malnourished animals including tiger and leopard cubs stuffed in an attic, and sick animals. They also found two alligators in a bathtub. The tiger cubs were kept in freezers that also contained frozen foods, and the boy had access to kitchen refrigerators that stored animal tranquilizers, prosecutors said.

Weinhart’s attorney, R. Addison Steele II, said the son would still be called to testify.

Smith will not testify against Weinhart. If convicted on all counts, Weinhart faces a maximum prison sentence of 16 years.

Steele described his client as a lifelong animal person and longtime rescuer who accepted any abandoned animal left at his property. Steele said the ailing donkeys, house cats and goat found on Weinhart’s property were abandoned by others in the days earlier.

Regarding the frozen cubs and tiger carcasses, Steele said, freezing the cubs allowed for a later post-mortem examination to establish a cause of death and that the full-grown tigers’ bones were to be sold later to animal bone collectors.

“It’s not illegal for a person to keep dead animals,” Steele told jurors.