Ohio horse company files claim

Katafiasz Futurity Horses LLC, and its manager, Amanda Jackson, of Holland, Ohio, have petitioned a federal judge to have that outstanding balance paid when a civil lawsuit against Crundwell is resolved.

The invoices, dated April 1 – 16 days before Crundwell’s arrest – total $6,597.66 for training, trimming, shoeing and boarding in Lansing, Mich.

This is the fourth claim filed since the former Dixon comptroller was arrested April 17.

Crundwell, 59, is charged with federal wire fraud; prosecutors say she misappropriated more than $53 million in city funds over two decades.

In May, prosecutors filed a civil suit seeking to sell 401 horses, 21 embryos, 13 saddles, and frozen semen from eight horses that have been under the care of the U.S. Marshals Service.

Magistrate Judge P. Michael Mahoney granted that request June 15.

A similar request to sell Crundwell’s five properties and her $2.1 million Liberty Coach motor home also was granted.

The proceeds will be held in escrow until Crundwell’s cases are resolved.

Professional Auction Services Inc. of Virginia has been tapped to hold an auction at Crundwell’s Dixon farm in mid-September. Online bids also will be taken. Horses being boarded at the Meri-J Ranch in Beloit, Wis., will be brought to Dixon for the live sale, while a handful of other horses across the country will be sold online, the marshals said.

Several parties already have filed as intervenors in the civil suit, seeking compensation for services rendered since Crundwell’s arrest: horse breeders Brock and Kristi Allen of Allen Equine, and veterinarians A. Barry Wood and Hartman Equine Reproduction Center, all of Texas; and the Meri-J.

They are claiming to have incurred costs in excess of $150,000 in caring for her horses.

Another company, Strathman Veterinary Services in Rockford, says Crundwell owes it more than $52,000 in vet costs, and filed its motion to intervene on July 16.

Prosecutors say, however, that Strathman is not a “secured owner” of any of the horses, and that the money it is owed is for services rendered before the arrest.