Breaking: Guilty Pleas Entered in Plainville Farms Cruelty Cases

For Immediate Release:
June 15, 2023

Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382

Based on overwhelming evidence gathered during a PETA undercover investigation into Plainville Farms, Pennsylvania residents Juan Carlos Turi Baeza and Jose Enrique Turi Baeza pleaded guilty this morning to charges of cruelty to animals before Hon. Jessica E. Brewbaker in the Cumberland County Court of Common Pleas. They were each sentenced to 12 months of supervised probation and are prohibited from obtaining any employment that involves the care of animals during that time.

Pennsylvania State Police charged the two Turi Baezas and 10 other former Plainville workers with a total of 141 counts of cruelty to animals, the largest number in any factory-farmed animal case in U.S. history. Charges against 11 of the men remain pending from Chester, Cumberland, Franklin, Fulton, Perry, and Union counties, including more charges against Juan Carlos Turi Baeza in Fulton County.

“Factory farms should take note that shoppers have seen PETA footage of the suffering inflicted on gentle turkeys, chickens, ducks, and pigs we’ve filmed being beaten, kicked, and cruelly killed on various farms,” says PETA Senior Vice President Daphna Nachminovitch. “While the defendants in this case are being taken to court, PETA reminds everyone that the best way to help end such cruelty is to take personal responsibility and simply go vegan. Our resources, recipes, and tips are yours for the takin’.”

PETA’s investigator documented that workers kicked turkeys, including birds who were sick, injured, and unable to walk. After failing to break their necks, they left the birds to convulse and die in agony on the shed floor. Instead of trying to stop the abuse, a supervisor joined in, kicking turkeys and berating the investigator for not doing the same. Workers threw hens at one another as though they were basketballs. One worker pretended to masturbate with a dying bird, and another sat on and pretended to rape a live turkey.

Broadcast-quality video footage from PETA’s investigation is available here.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat”—opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview, and offers a free vegan starter kit on its website. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.