$200 fine for Ribbens, former director of Sheb. Co. Humane Society



SHEBOYGAN (WITI) -- The courtroom was packed Monday, June 3rd in Sheboygan as Eileen Ribbens, the former director of the Sheboygan County Humane Society reached a plea deal. The judge called it an unusual resolution to a case that has garnered a lot of attention.

Ribbens was charged with obtaining a prescription drug by fraud and delivery of prescription drugs.

A plea bargain resulted in a no contest plea to a lesser charged, and Ribbens walked out of court with a $200 fine to pay.

RIbbens lawyer says former Humane Society workers who were fired, and the Humane Society veterinarian Dr. Frederick Lord banded together to take Ribbens down. He called those who filled the courtroom Monday crazy.

"Yeah we are crazy. We're crazy about the animals, and we're crazy about where these animals have to live and right now these animals have to live in this limbo," Cary Schur said.

A criminal complaint says Dr. Lord told police Ribbens used his license to order 1,000 pills of tramadol, used for dogs with cancer. The complaint says Ribbens told another worker she was buying the pills with her own money for a dog owner who wouldn't afford them.

"She used his veterinary license without his permission, and those are the facts and my family is still suffering because of it. A good and decent man who's practiced veterinary medicine for 46 years has his name trashed in court and she comes out looking like a saint," a family member of Dr. Lord told FOX6 News.

"Dr. Lord approved three prior prescriptions. He knew the tramadol was going to cancer dogs. He did three prior times to dogs that were seen by him," Ribbens' attorney said.

"Dr. Lord did order prescription medications for shelter care employees animals once he examined them and once he prescribed them, so this 'everyone is doing it,' is a bunch of crap. They were doing it with authorization, but that is something she didn't do. She got denied. She's an arrogant person. She decided she would order it and she did, and she got caught," Sheboygan County District Attorney Joe DeCecco said.

A felony charge that still remains: delivery of prescription drugs, will be held open for two years. Then, it will be dropped.

DeCecco says the important thing is that Ribbens is no longer involved with the Humane Society.