Ten people have now been convicted in a three-year-old animal abuse case involving Plainville Farms turkeys.
In the latest development in the case, Jason Kyle Turner pleaded guilty to charges of cruelty to animals on July 30, according to a document from the Court of Common Pleas of Cumberland County, Pennsylvania.
Turner, like the other suspects who pleaded guilty in the case, has been sentenced to probation and are prohibited from obtaining employment that involves the care of animals.
The court action stems from criminal charges that were filed after People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) circulated a video in August 2021. That video depicted scenes of turkeys raised for Plainville Farms being thrown, kicked and picked up by their necks, as well as being subjected to other forms of mistreatment.
Shortly after the video was released, Plainville Farms announced it was cooperating with law enforcement agencies and had launched its own investigation into the matter. That investigation led to the termination of 13 employees, as well as the purchase of body cameras for a third-party animal welfare specialist to monitor all live operations by employees.
The company also replaced catching employees with a third-party vendor to provide catching services.
With the latest guilty plea, 10 of the 12 original suspects in the case have been convicted.
Others that previously pleaded guilty include Joeseph Nunez Rosario, Mitchell Eugene Buckley, Kevin Lee Wagaman, Francisco Lebron-Cruz, Bryiant Perez-Paez, Bryce Washington, Juan Carlos Turi Baeza and Jose Enrique Tui Baeza. Previously pleading no-contest to related charges was Christopher Stephen McArdle.
Plainville Farms is the 15th largest turkey producer in the United States, having slaughtered 132 million pounds of live turkey in 2023. Formerly part of Hain Celestial’s Hain Pure Protein subsidiary, the company’s turkey operations were acquired by Plainville Brands LLC in 2019.