BY PORTSIA SMITH

A Caroline County farrier who was given the county's longest sentence for animal cruelty is finally serving time behind bars.

Michael A. Wilkerson Sr., 48, was sentenced in February 2010 to a total of 14 months in jail for seven counts of animal cruelty against horses, but has remained out on bond because he appealed the decision several times. He was convicted in December 2009.

Those appeals were denied twice by the Court of Appeals of Virginia and twice by the Supreme Court of Virginia, most recently on Sept. 23.

With the appeal options exhausted, Judge Joseph J. Ellis told Wilkerson on Wednesday afternoon that it was time for him to go to jail.

Defense attorney John LaFratta asked if Wilkerson could be allowed to participate in a work-release program, but Ellis said no.

The case began in January 2008 when animal control officers said they warned Wilkerson that he needed to do a better job of feeding and caring for nine of his horses. They returned about two weeks later and seized five of the horses because they didn't see any improvement, but four of the horses were missing.

Wilkerson was convicted in February 2008 of four counts of cruelty to the seized horses. He was not convicted of cruelty against the fifth horse because he did not own the horse for more than six months.

He appealed that decision and, following several postponements, Commonwealth's Attorney Tony Spencer added more charges of animal cruelty after the four missing horses were discovered in the same condition with a friend of Wilkerson's in Lunenburg County.

During the sentencing hearing, Spencer said Wilkerson didn't have the resources to properly care for his horses during the winter months when there was no grass to feed on, so he fed them the bare minimum to keep them alive until the summer.

A veterinarian testified during the trial in December 2009 that one of the horses was so starved that its bone-marrow fat content, which is usually 60 to 90 percent, was less than 2 percent.

"This was an intentional near-starvation of horses for months at a time," Spencer said at the trial. "It's time for him to answer to what he has done. It was horrible cruelty."