VAN NUYS : Seafood Operator Sentenced for Cruelty to Turtles
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A seafood company operator who crammed thousands of turtles inside a van and a warehouse and left them to die and rot pleaded no contest Tuesday to animal cruelty and illegal animal possession charges.
Mark Rommel Osterholt entered his plea in Van Nuys Municipal Court, where he was ordered to return May 9 to surrender and begin serving a 60-day jail term, a spokesman for the city attorney said.
Osterholt, 28, also was ordered to complete 30 days of service on a Caltrans work crew.
The case against the owner of Osterholt and Sons Seafood Co. stemmed from an investigation that began last May when 1,112 turtles were found in a van he left parked in a West Hills condominium complex.
More than 900 of the turtles were rescued from the van, but 121 were dead, said city attorney’s spokesman Mike Qualls.
Publicity from the finding led to the discovery of at least 1,300 more turtles in the refrigerator of a Westminster wholesale seafood warehouse that the West Hills resident was renting.
Some 600 of those had starved, drowned or been crushed under the weight of the turtles above them. More than 700 were rescued.
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