Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, July 19, 1994 TAG: 9407190051
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MICHAEL STOWE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
W.W. Bennett Hurt, one of Virginia's largest dealers in crippled and old cattle, will likely serve six months in prison for violating federal food and drug laws designed to protect people from eating drug-laced meat.
Hurt, 33, admitted to U.S. District Judge James Turk that he bought diseased cattle and sold them to a Lynchburg slaughterhouse specializing in meat for human beings - even though he knew the cows might have excessive amounts of drugs in them.
Gloria Dunnavan, a compliance officer for the federal Food and Drug Administration, said there is nothing wrong with selling sick, old or "down" cattle for meat. Down cattle are too sick or old to stand up.
Hurt's problem, she testified, is that cattle with high concentrations of drugs aren't supposed to be sold for slaughter until they have been held long enough for the drugs to burn out of the animals' system.
Some dealers might not want to wait that long, for fear the animals will die. Dealers also might not want to spend money to feed animals until they are sold.
Prosecutors say Hurt is the first person to be indicted for violating laws controlling antibiotic levels in cattle.
According to a 21-page indictment, Hurt sold more than 1,300 head of cattle - for more than $700,000 - to Dinner Bell Meat Products Inc. of Lynchburg from 1989 to 1993.
Drug residues were found in at least 150 of those animals, testified Dennis Doupnik, an investigator for the FDA in Roanoke.
Dunnavan said that was "far and away" the largest number of tainted cattle her office has ever linked to any dealer "in this part of the country and probably across the United States."
Doupnik said Hurt sold many of the animals under the name New River Livestock Co., but also used at least 29 fake names.
Hurt has been under investigation since 1990, Doupnik said, when inspectors conducting routine "stop tests" of each "down" bovine that came in for slaughter noticed that Hurt's had high drug levels.
The Blacksburg dealer was warned repeatedly to discontinue the practice, Doupnik said.
Instead of stopping, however, Hurt told the inspectors that if they continued cracking down on him he would take his cattle somewhere they couldn't be traced.
Hurt was indicted on seven counts, including several of making false statements to investigators, but the remaining six charges were dropped in return for his guilty plea to one charge.
He faces up to three years in prison and a $250,000 fine, but prosecutors have agreed to ask for a six-month sentence, assistant U.S. Attorney Jean Hudson said. Of course, Hudson said, "Judge Turk can do whatever he wants."
Hurt has come under state and federal government scrutiny in the past.
His trading privileges were suspended in 1988 by the U.S. Packers and Stockyards Administration for issuing bad checks, failing to pay for livestock and failing to pay full price for livestock, said Jim Stroud of the agency's regional office in Bedford. A federal injunction was issued against Hurt in 1991 preventing him from operating without being properly bonded and registered.
Hurt owed farmers $243,938 in connection with that suspension, and Stroud said "he had no knowledge" that Hurt had paid the debt off.
Stroud said Hurt still isn't bonded, even though he has continued to sell cattle.
Hurt also pleaded no contest in 1991 to 17 misdemeanor charges of trading in sick cattle without proper state registration. He was fined $1,700 and given a suspended jail sentence.
Philip Bishop, who also works for the packers administration, said he wouldn't be surprised if the Blacksburg man continues dealing up until he is sentenced in November.
"If his past is any indication, then he will not stop," Bishop said. "He has repeatedly violated the order."
by CNB