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Riverside Teacher Charged With Animal Cruelty

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Jun 24, 2009 4:34 pm US/Pacific

Riverside Teacher Charged With Animal Cruelty

RIVERSIDE, Calif. (AP) ― Riverside County prosecutors have charged a Norte Vista High School teacher with mistreating animals at the school's Future Farmers of America program.

District attorney spokesman Michael Jeandron says 48-year-old Tracy Michele Putnam pleaded not guilty Tuesday in Superior Court to three felony counts of animal cruelty.

County Animal Services says officials responded to complaints about an injured lamb in May 2006, a steer in September 2006 and a sick goat in January 2007. The agency also alleges Putnam instructed a student teacher to euthanize a lamb in a cruel manner.

Alvord Unified School District official Craig Wells says the district investigated and found the allegations unwarranted. Wells says the teacher is well educated and trained in her field and the district has full confidence in her.

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