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CHRONOLOGY OF EVENTS LEADING TO MULTIPLE COUNTS OF CRIMINAL ANIMAL
CRUELTY FILED AGAINST THE NIH'S "ALAMOGORDO PRIMATE FACILITY"
OPERATOR
Prepared by In Defense of Animals /
September 7th, 2004
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March 2004 - IDA's network of whistleblowers states that a maintenance person, formerly employed by the APF, is interviewed by District Attorney Key's office, indicating that the D.A.'s investigation has not been derailed by CRL's apparent directives to employees not to speak to anyone about the situation, as outlined during the all-employee meeting of August 29, 2003. IDA's sources state that the former maintenance person informs CRL that he has been interviewed. Consequently, CRL knows that District Attorney Key is continuing his criminal investigation, and immediately changes the "policy" of untrained security/maintenance personnel performing animal care duties. This immediate change allegedly occurs more than seven months after August
2003 - the date that CRL first becomes aware of both the D.A.'s criminal
investigation and the D.A.'s knowledge of alleged cruelty regarding
Ashley's death as well as unnamed others. This change in "policy" also
allegedly occurs approximately one-and-a-half years after Ashley's death in
September 2002.
June 2004 - Andrea Lee, who had been the APF's "program administrator" starting in June 2001 and is the wife of Director Dr. Rick Lee, is criminally charged with 15 counts of fraudulently obtaining a controlled substance, and Otero County District Attorney Scot Key issues a warrant for her arrest
(Andrea Lee Warrant). According to the warrant affidavit, Lee had used the DEA numbers of at least two APF veterinarians to illegally obtain Vicodin at a local pharmacy. Lee did this during the time she was employed by CRL at the NIH's Alamogordo Primate Facility - a facility that, according to CRL's own legal pleadings, failed to have basic euthanasia drugs for the chimpanzees from June 2001 to December 2001.
August 3, 2004 - District Attorney Scot Key executes a search warrant (APF Warrant) at the APF. Facility Director Dr. Rick Lee initially tries to refuse the investigators access but relents when he is shown the warrant. Later, as the investigators take pictures and video of the locations where alleged cruelty to chimpanzees occurred, Lee informs them that CRL's attorneys have said that the warrant is invalid because the state of New Mexico has no jurisdiction. IDA believes that Lee's initial refusal to provide access is consistent with IDA's sources's recounting of the August 29, 2003 employee meeting where employees were forbidden with discussing the situation with anyone - a proscription that seems to indicate a refusal to cooperate by CRL. In addition, Lee's statement to the investigators regarding the CRL attorneys' opinion that the state of New Mexico has no jurisdiction is also consistent with Lee's statements during the August 29, 2003 employee meeting.
Importantly, District Judge Frank Wilson signs the warrant, which includes an affidavit from investigator John Stubbe, a 24-year police force veteran attached to the District Attorney's office. Investigator Stubbe states that the warrant is necessary to obtain evidence that would be "helpful to the investigation and or prosecution of person(s) and or corporations responsible for the cruelty to the chimps herein described." He further states that as a result of his investigation, "probable cause has been established to suspect Charles River Foundation of institutional neglect." Investigator Stubbe's brief recounting of the circumstances surrounding the deaths of Rex and Ashley, and the near-death of Topsy - including the "policy" of having completely untrained security/maintenance personnel providing animal care to the chimpanzees - is entirely consistent with the information provided by IDA's network of whistleblowers.
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