Another Chance 4 Horses, the Bernville, Pennsylvania horse rescue/adoption organization, has apparently closed the barn door. The FBI raided the non-profit’s offices on April 30, 2013. Christy Sheidy, the organization’s owner, said at the time that the issue was health certificates for horses in her care. However, the FBI does not investigate equine health certificates. They investigate crimes ranging from terrorism and counterintelligence, to white collar crime, civil rights violations, violent crime and major theft.
The FBI would not comment on exactly why they raided Another Chance 4 Horses, and Sheidy has not commented. But the search warrant issued by U. S. District Court Judge Henry Perkin in Allentown indicated that investigators were looking for evidence of wire fraud and other criminal acts. Subsequently, FBI investigators reached out to individuals who might have firsthand information about possible wrongdoing at the organization.
In August of 2013, Pennsylvania’s Department of State ordered the organization to cease and desist from soliciting contributions in Pennsylvania. According to the order from the office of Carol Aichele, Secretary of the Commonwealth, Another Chance 4 Horses had failed to provide the state with required information about its operations, and was not registered with the department’s Bureau of Charitable Organizations.
Recently the IRS revoked the 501(c)3 status of Another Chance 4 Horses as a result of the organization’s failure to file Form 990, an annual report on the organization’s mission, finances and programs that further its mission. For three consecutive years, Another Chance 4 Horses did not file the form, and that led to the automatic revocation of the 501(c)3 status. Earlier this year, notice of an IRS lien against Another Chance 4 Horses was placed in a Reading newspaper. The lien, for $19,000 in unpaid taxes, was further indication that Sheidy’s organization, which had generated controversy for several years, might not survive.
The phone number for Another Chance 4 Horses has been disconnected, and the group’s website has been taken down. Several attempts to contact Sheidy were unsuccessful.