Jag, Coati and Bears--Oh My

One of the most important tools to use during an investigation is the "Open Records" requests from County, City, or State agencies (Federal requests are called FOIA - Freedom of Information Act).

This month open records request, from the Texas Parks and Wildlife, revealed the pseudo-sanctuary possessed an Education Permit. This permit allows the sanctuary to possess certain protected Texas animals. In this case, the pseudo-sanctuary's original permit for the period of 2006 - 2009, stated it possessed 1 jaguar, 1 coati, and 25 black bears.

The TP&W game warden visited the pseudo-sanctuary to check on the animals and discovered the last jaguar was dead, there was no coati, and the bear population dropped to 17 animals. An internal report showed 3 bears died form Aug 2004 - 2006. So where are the remaining bears? What happened to the jag? Where is the coati? So many questions and no answers are forthcoming--oh my...

Out of Sight

What are they trying to hide?

The pseudo-sanctuary recently installed an 8-foot privacy fence along the length of the office buildings and their "quarantine area." What is interesting is that they did not want to protect the animals by installing a privacy fence in front of the animal cages right off the street, but they did want to protect their "business" from public view.

Is the pseudo-sanctuary hiding illegal building construction from public view? Poor animal care? And what is with the huge new storage building? What are they hiding in this building?

So many questions and so few answers.

We Need Building Permits?

From: Kristina Brunner
To: ramiro.carrillo@sanantonio.gov ; Chris Krhovjak; james.anthony@oag.state.tx.us
Sent: Wednesday, March 12, 2008 8:43 PM
Subject: Re: ASUS Additional Information - Building Permits

Dear Sirs:

Today I had an opportunity to review the City of San Antonio report regarding the alleged construction at the Animal Sanctuary of the United States (see attachment - building w/o permits and demolishing building w/o permit).

In regards to case #69743 (page 1), Mr. Asvestas stated the two story apartment building located next to the modified double-wide (which according to Ms. Asvestas is no longer a double wide as the owners removed the "trailer" several years ago) was built over 8 years ago and was just recently annexed into the City just 5 years ago.


The oldest [correction:  should say "youngest"] daughter’s apartment house was not built eight years ago but was started late fall of 2004 and completed in the summer of 2005. I was given an opportunity to tour Melissa Asvestas' new apartment in August 2005. There were some outside paneling that needs to be purchased and installed, but otherwise the interior was completely habitable and was furnished with brand new furniture. At that time, the interior spiral staircase was on special order as it had to be hand made (see WAO 2006 990 inventory for the spiral staircase addition).


To verify the accuracy of the facts, please refer to this web site: http://www.terraserver.com/view.asp. To view aerial photographs from 2004, enter in the address 9626 Leslie Road and locate the personal residence found "below" the WAO property by clicking on the down arrow found at the bottom of the picture. Click on the "+" button (until it is on the 3rd notch on the line) so the photograph will be appropriately magnified and then click on the "imagery" button located within the photograph. Select 1/27/04 (.6096m), 8/30/2004 (.6096m), and 12/1/04 (.0696m), so you can see the property without the daughter’s building until 12/1/04. For some reason, the other dates with magnification of .6, .3, and 1m appear to be dated incorrectly, as evidenced by the improved quality of the arial photographs.

As the former WAO VP and Treasurer, I did not become aware of the new building until early 2005, when I learned the WAO assigned Bexar County Adult Probationers were not working on the WAO property because they were reassigned to work at the Asvestas' personal property--building the daughter's apartment house (as verified by a Community Service Restitution Supervisor, Bexar County Adult Probation Department, on August 8, 2006, whereas a complaint was filed by a probationer {For OAG: See Memo to File - WAO Used Community Service Workers for Personal Gain}). Bexar County Adult probationers are no longer assigned to the WAO due to the numerous complaints made by community service restitution workers against the Asvestas'. I was a frequent visitor of the Asvestas' residence, over a 10 year period I was associated with the WAO, and was in the position to see the property without the daughter's apartment building on the Asvestas' personal property until 2005.

According to the City of San Antonio Development Services Department, Search of a Permit by Specific Address, the only permit on file is for Mr. and Ms. Asvestas personal residence. No permit has been requested for the new "dog and cat spay & neuter clinic" to be built at the Leslie Road facility. Based on the Asvestas' past practices, I believe the building will be constructed without plans or permits.


In light of Mr. Asvestas receiving a substantial salary increase (150+%) for 2007 as "Construction Manager" for the facility,(http://wildanimalorphanage.org/staffasus.html) I have reason to believe short cuts will be made to try and build this building as cheap as possible, putting the lives of animals and human caretakers at possible risk. I encourage frequent City inspection visits at the Leslie Road facility to ensure the Asvestas are truly developing safe building plans and submitting those plans to the City, before starting any construction.


Your kind attention to this matter is greatly appreciated.

Kind Regards,

Kristina Brunner



----- Original Message -----


From: Kristina Brunner
To: Chris Krhovjak
Cc: ramiro.carrillo@sanantonio.gov
Sent: Thursday, February 07, 2008 9:25 PM
Subject: ASUS Additional Information - Building Permits


VIA E-MAIL: christopher.krhovjak@oag.state.tx.us
CC: ramiro.carrillo@sanantonio.gov

Please accept this letter as an addendum to the original complaint letter previously submitted to your Office.

The information enclosed herein pertains to my original complaint regarding alleged misappropriation of funds and mail fraud perpetrated by the non-profit 501 (c) (3) tax exempt organization’s owners/operators of the Animal Sanctuary of the United States, d/b/a Wild Animal Orphanage (WAO); f/k/a the Primate Sanctuary of the U.S. (PSUS), f/k/a the National Sanctuary for Retired Research Primates (NSRRP), f/k/a; f/k/a The San Antonio Wildlife Emergency Centre, f/k/a Primate Sanctuary of America (PSA); f/k/a Chimp Aid; f/k/a Cat Haven; and possibly starting up the d/b/a Whisker’s and Wag’s Humane Society. I believe this additional information warrants a continued investigation into the referenced charity for diversion of charitable trust funds from their intended purpose and/or gross mismanagement resulting in a significant financial loss or other substantial harm to the citizens of Texas and throughout the United States.


On February 1, 2008, Senior Building Inspector Carrillo advised me a San Antonio building inspector visited the Animal Sanctuary of the United States' place of business located at 9626 Leslie Road, San Antonio. Mr. Carrillo told me the building inspector saw a building under construction (undoubtedly the alleged spay and neuter clinic), and as suspected, no building permits were issued for this new construction.


Mr. Carrillo was unable to provide much detail as he wanted to speak with his inspector regarding his findings and indicated he would contact me the following week with the inspection results regarding the Leslie Road property. I was also told the case number would be provided so I may obtain records under the City's Open Records Act.


Thus far, I have been unable to contact Mr. Carillo; however, as soon as I receive the case number and obtain the information pertaining to the property's inspection, I will provide whatever documentation I receive to your Office for consideration.


If you need to contact Senior Building Inspector Ramiro Carrillo, he can be reached at (210) 288-3236.


As the new spay and neuter clinic will undoubtedly house visiting veterinarians, animal care staff and hundreds of animals, it is imperative the building construction, electrical and plumbing meet or exceeds standards set by the City of San Antonio. I am concerned the other buildings on Leslie Road property and those buildings located at 3511 Talley Road, Lot #6, may not meet current safety standards and eventually cause serious bodily harm to humans and animals unless rectified immediately. Also, will this clinic building need to meet any other type of medical or environmental standards before surgeries may be performed on premise? Is there plan on file regarding the disposal of all the excess animal tissue that will need to be disposed on a daily basis from all the animal surgeries?


Since there are a lot of grant monies available to spay and neuter clinics, I am concerned the ASUS is taking too many short cuts to start up this "clinic" and in the long run it may have a negative impact on the animals and staff. I am also concerned the Board of Directors are not taking an active interest in the construction of his building. Especially since Mr. Ronald Asvestas, ASUS' construction manager (annual salary of $50,000+) of 25+ years should have known the proper procedures in obtaining building permits from the City for all the constructed buildings located at both ASUS properties.


Again, thank you for your time and attention to this case.


Kind Regards,

Kristina Brunner

im3511_20090313_155413 - WAO Building wo Permits - 2008

$$ Chi-ching $$

Show me the money!

Normally, when someone receives a substantial pay raise, it is due to a legitimate business reason. For example, if the job is in high demand (i.e. medical), then the salary tends to rise to meet the demand. Or, if an employee is doing such a truly ground breaking, revolutionary type of work, then a significant pay raise may be warranted to ensure the employee remains with that particular organization (i.e. scientists).

I think we can all agree we would love to have a significant pay increase for just doing our current jobs, right? Generally, employees reason a 2-10% pay increase for merit, promotion, or cost of living.

But not at the pseudo sanctuary! Why, the directors, which are currently under investigation for misappropriation of funds and violations of the Animal Welfare Act, gave themselves over 140+% salary increases in 2007.

Did the pseudo directors' work suddenly double in size? No. Are they performing ground-breaking, revolutionary type of work? No. Were they underpaid in 2006 (both made over $51k each)? No. Did their job duties change significantly to warrant this pay increase? No. Are they doing such a wonderful job that the Board of Directors thought they should be rewarded with this HUGE pay increase? (Okay, I'm trying to type this last question with a straight face.) If the answer is YES to the last question, then it just goes to show the board is not legitimate and it continues to be a "puppet" of the directors. So why did one one of the directors receive $72+k and the other one received $79+k?

The investigations are still on-going. Each month additional evidence is submitted to interested parties and yet the directors feel the need to steal from the animals to pay for what? Reward themselves for having to respond to the AG's summons? I can almost hear the directors now - "we needed a pay raise because of all the time and effort we spend responding to the AG's Office." Now, keep in mind, the directors would not have to spend all this time responding to the AG's Office if the pseudo-sanctuary actually was a legitimate. business.

But...it's hard work manufacturing records and making up stories--or so I've heard!

The directors are planning to open a spay and neuter clinic by the end of this year and convert one of the sanctuaries into a dog and cat shelter. This takes money. Where is the money coming from if the directors are raking in the cash for themselves? What is happening to the animals currently living at the two properties? Is their health declining because of the diversion of funds to the directors' pockets?

It should be very interesting to see how much the directors plan to take from the animals' mouths this year -- I'm betting they will give themselves another 140+% salary increase this year? Any takers?