Des Plaines woman facing more criminal horse abuse charges

A Des Plaines woman arrested last month on charges she abused horses in her care is facing new troubles after McHenry County prosecutors elevated a set of old accusations into criminal court.

With the move, Jamie A. Koy, 36, of the 1500 block of Miner Street, faces an additional six counts of animal cruelty and 12 counts of neglecting animal owner duties stemming from claims she mistreated six horses in April.

Authorities initially charged the claims as ordinance violations punishable by fines. Now Koy could face up to a year in jail, in addition to $2,500 in fines, if found guilty of the most serious misdemeanor charges.

Koy already was charged with five misdemeanor counts of animal cruelty and 10 more misdemeanor counts of neglecting animal owner duties after her Aug. 2 arrest. Most of the allegations from both sets of charges involve the same horses.

Philip Hiscock, criminal division chief of the McHenry County State's Attorney's Office, said moving the older charges to criminal court is appropriate, in part because it will put one prosecutor in charge of all the claims.

But Koy's attorney, Daniel Hofmann, accused the prosecutor's office of trying to score political points by treating an accused animal abuser more harshly.

"It's a distraction for the common masses," he said. "It doesn't make any sense that they were ordinance violations four months ago, but now all of a sudden they're misdemeanors."

Koy, who is free on bond, will plead not guilty to the upgraded charges during a court appearance Tuesday, Hofmann said.

The charges claim Koy starved or allowed the malnutrition of six horses she was caring for in late April.

She was not arrested then, but county authorities did arrest her in August after five horses in her care were seized from a property near Crystal Lake. Two of the horses have since been euthanized, court documents state.

Prosecutors last week also filed a petition asking a judge to order Koy to pay nearly $5,700 to cover the county's costs of caring for the horses seized last month.