Penryn animal sanctuary defrauded its donors, former board members say

A Penryn animal sanctuary continues to accept $7,000 in donations each month, despite the fact that it signed over most of its residents to the humane society in September. Former board members of A Chance for Bliss say the organization's founders, David "Woody" Bartley and Deanna Bartley, recently began defrauding their sponsors by not disclosing how few animals they still had in their care. The Bartleys say the allegations of fraud are completely false and have decided to resign from the organization and turn it over to a new board of directors. The turning pointA Chance for Bliss came to a turning point in September when mounting financial problems and the two-week hospitalization of David Bartley for psychiatric reasons culminated in the sanctuary signing over most of its 100 senior and disabled animals to the Humane Society of the Sierra Foothills. Rachel Chao, of Citrus Heights, began working with the organization in 2007 and later joined the board of directors. During that time the organization received attention from several media outlets, including USA Today and had many donors. Tax returns from 2009 show A Chance for Bliss brought in $135,726 that year and $61,352 in 2008. Tax returns from 2010 were not available. Chao said despite some of the organization's successes she resigned in September after a growing number of concerns became too much for her to ignore. One red flag, she said, was David Bartley's desire to continue fundraising efforts even after many animals had been signed over to the humane society and open houses were cancelled. "He said, 'don't cancel any of the media or fundraisers' and I thought, 'What in the hell are you talking about?'" Chao said. "They are still actively soliciting donations."Bartley released a statement at the end of October on the organization's website. It did not include details about how many animals were signed over to the humane society and stated funds were still needed even though the organization was downsizing and relocating. A Chance For Bliss's website is still fully-functional and accessible. It shows photos of animals that have already been placed by the humane society.Bartley said the webmaster was supposed to remove the links. Chao said she also believes the sanctuary is the Bartley's source of income. "At this point I believe the sanctuary is the sole source of income. He is not working. She is not working," Chao said. "This is the sole source of income. Only 49 percent of the directors can be compensated monetarily, so that's pretty shady. That's also not something they told the donor base about."However, David Bartley said he and his wife have only used donated funds in service to the animals and never drew a salary from the sanctuary. David Bartley said his personal income is from professional work as a mortgage loan officer outside of the sanctuary and personal savings as that has decreased over the years. In 2008, tax returns show the Bartley's donated $35,303 of their own money to A Chance for Bliss. Bartley said they were trying to keep it afloat. The following year positive media exposure helped boost donations significantly. The $7,000 a month that the sanctuary currently takes in from recurring sponsorships is used to pay for feed, veterinary care, one employee's salary and a bookkeeper, according to David Bartley.Any remaining funds that the sanctuary takes in during the year but aren't spent roll over to the next year, he said. Animals in waiting While the humane society has been able to remove many of the animals that were signed over in a Sept. 16 agreement, there are more animals that belong to the humane society that the Bartley's will not turn over, according to Rosemary Frieborn, a humane officer for the Humane Society of the Sierra Foothills. "They asked us to come in and help them to find homes for the animals," Frieborn said. "It was our understanding that they were going to initially just work on taking care of themselves personally and then later it became downsizing."Frieborn said they were able to find homes for most of the special needs animals. David Bartley said the animals that belong to the humane society but remain at A Chance For Bliss have not been turned over because he felt it was in the animals' best interest to stay at the sanctuary until they were adopted. Bartley said former board members are exaggerating their claims. "I cannot understand why these people are exaggerating their claims," David Bartley said. "We have always put the needs and well-being of the animals in our care as our primary concern. These animals have been like family to us."Currently, nine dogs, five horses, four pigs, three cats, seven ducks, five geese and two steers remain on the property, according to Bartley. Is there still A Chance For Bliss?Rene Bender, who owns Fell Legend Farm in Lincoln, will take over as President on Dec. 31. The remaining animals will be relocated to her 30-acre property and the Bartley's will no longer be involved with A Chance For Bliss, according to Bender. She said she wanted to get involved because despite the recent issues, the animals need to come first. Bender has been rescuing senior horses for over 20 years. "Right now I am feeling really good about it. I have a very good reputation within the equine community. I feel like I have as good a chance as anybody to bring A Chance For Bliss back to where it should be," Bender said. She has appointed Cathy Norris as treasurer, who she said is well-qualified to handle the business affairs. Norris' role will free her to focus on her specialty, caring for animals. Overall, Bender said she feels the Bartley's maintained a high-level of care for the animals."I think that if the Bartleys had come down with a heart attack or stroke I think everybody would have raced to them with chicken soup," Bender said. "Because of the circumstances I don't think they were paying attention to details and that was probably nothing more than oversight."She hopes to meet with the humane society and other key people involved soon to rebuild their confidence in the organization and move it forward. "I think the problem is at this point people have lost confidence and trust. The idea is if I can meet with them and meet together I can address those things. I can talk to them and try to build that confidence back up," Bender said. "I don't want them to be enemies."Reach Sara Seyydin at saras@goldcountrymedia.com. ______________________________________________________To view former A Chance for Bliss animals that are available for adoption through the Humane Society of the Sierra Foothills, visit http://www.animalplace.com/adopt_animals.htm. To view the current message to sponsors from A Chance for Bliss, visit http://www.achanceforbliss.org.