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School administrator accused of dogfighting fired

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Pauline Winbush, who once served as interim superintendent of schools, was employed as the assistant superintendent for human resources at Palmdale School District. The district placed Winbush on paid administrative leave on Dec. 1, and then voted Feb. 24 to terminate her employment agreement.
Pauline Winbush, who once served as interim superintendent of schools, was employed as the assistant superintendent for human resources at Palmdale School District. The district placed Winbush on paid administrative leave on Dec. 1, and then voted Feb. 24 to terminate her employment agreement.

PALMDALE – An assistant superintendent awaiting trial for child abuse, dog fighting and animal cruelty has been fired, according to a press release by the Palmdale School District.

“[Tuesday, Feb. 24,] the Board of Trustees of the Palmdale School District held a special board meeting to consider whether the District should terminate the employment agreement of Assistant Superintendent Pauline Winbush and dismiss her as an employee of the District. After conducting a hearing in closed session, the Board voted unanimously to terminate Ms. Winbush’s employment agreement with the District for cause,” the press release states.

“Since Ms. Winbush was entitled to a position as a tenured teacher notwithstanding the termination of her employment agreement, the Board also considered a statement of charges for her immediate suspension and dismissal as an employee of the District. The Board voted unanimously to dismiss Ms. Winbush as a District employee and immediately suspend her without pay pending any appeal of the dismissal. Ms. Winbush has thirty days to appeal the Board’s dismissal decision,” the press release continues.

Following a raid on her Antelope Acres home, Winbush and her boyfriend, Kevin Ray Williams, were each charged with four felony counts of dog fighting, 17 felony counts of cruelty to an animal, one felony count of child abuse, and multiple Los Angeles County code violations, including unsanitary conditions and failing to license and vaccinate their dogs. [View a copy of the complaint here.]

Both were arrested Dec. 29, and Winbush bailed out of jail the next day. The couple pleaded not guilty to the charges on Dec. 30.

At a preliminary court hearing last month, an animal control investigator testified about what officers found when they raided the home Winbush shared with her boyfriend and minor child.

On the property, which was overgrown with weeds and debris, the team found 19 pit bulls in various stages of poor health and malnutrition, about 19 dead pigeons decomposing in a coop, two containers of dead mice that had decomposed and were “in pieces,” and a dead puppy in a trash can, according to court testimony by Sgt. Rachel Montez of the Los Angeles County Department of Animal Care and Control.

The team also recovered a “large quantity” of dog fighting and dog breeding materials from the master bedroom, including several dog fighting magazines and a handwritten note bearing the address and signature of a known, convicted dog fighter, according to court testimony by Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputy Robert Ferrell. [Read more about the preliminary court hearing here.]

Following that court hearing, Winbush and her boyfriend were ordered to stand trial on all charges.

Winbush had been on paid administrative leave since Dec. 1, while the Palmdale School District “commenced its own investigation of her conduct and the circumstances giving rise to the actions of local law enforcement officials,” Superintendent Raul Maldonado previously stated.

In the press release regarding Winbush’s termination, Maldonado stated: “The public should know that the Board and District staff has acted professionally and diligently throughout this entire matter.”

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Previous related stories:

Trial ordered for school administrator charged with dog fighting, animal cruelty, child abuse

PSD administrator charged with dog fighting, animal cruelty, child abuse

39 comments for "School administrator accused of dogfighting fired"

  1. NO WHAT WE REALLY NEED TO SIT BACK AND WONDER IS THIS WHO WE ARE SENDING ARE KIDS TO EVERYDAY I DONT BELIEVE THIS OK DIDNT EVERYBODY HERE STORIES LIKE THIS BEFORE OK MABE IF PEOPLE REALLY WANT TO BE THIS STUPID AND DO THIS HERE IN THIS WIRED UP PLACE LIKE THEY DONT KNOW WHATS GOING ON THEN CONSIQUENCE IS A MUST BUT THEY THE PEOPLE WITH AUTHORTY DONT PAY ATTENTION ON THERE SQUAD I MEAN LIKE IS THIS WHO WE SEND OUR KIDS TO EVERYDAY BUT PEOPLE GET FINED FOR HAVING A BEER IN THE REFRIDURATOR FOR REAL DONT THAT SOUND BACKWARDS ….

  2. The sad truth is that she will probably have the charges reduced to misdemeanors and walk with probation. I predict she will not get any jail time at all.

  4. Penalties are not high enough for this type of behavior. She shouldn’t be out on bail, she should be locked up for many years.

  5. Sad, but this gal was naïve enough to put everything into the boyfriend who made a fool out of her. The people who fool fools an everyday thing. Everybody has a fool somewhere. The only genuine friend you have is your dog.

    • Excuse me but where does it say boyfriend fooled her or was the mastermind? Both were arrested BOTH are guilty

  6. And once again here goes another idiot giving a bad rep for these poor innocent dogs. This truly does sicken me knowing that more than likely these dogs won’t get a second chance at life when this whole situation was never in their control. I am a proud owner of 2 American pitbull terriers and it saddens me just thinking that if my dogs wouldn’t have ever been placed in my care, they probably would’ve ended up in the hands of a scumbag like her&her boyfriend. I hope that justice is served.

  7. I was amazed that she was not let go earlier. Recall, Winbush was trying to protect the old board when I raised concerns about the need for a fiscal audit, as well as complained about PSD serving kids, including my son, food that was more than two years past its expiration date.

  8. My only hope is that in prison you are treated just as you treated those innocent dogs. Pretty sure inmates love pit bulls and hate scum like you that gets your sick pleasure from torturing them every day of their miserable existence. Or, that when you die, YOU BOTH are tortured like that for all eternity. God has his ways.

  9. I am so deeply sickened by this whole thing. And to think, this was going on for years but never followed up on ? INEXCUSABLE Countless dogs have been tortured, abused and killed because no one cared enough to go the extra mile. Because of budget cuts ??! BS. How do you sleep at night ??

    ** THE WRONG ONES WERE EUTHANIZED — SHOULD’NT HAVE BEEN THE DOGS. **

  10. THERES MORE PEOPLE OUT THERE WHO NEED TO BE INVESTIGATED! WHOS NEXT? PLEASE HUNT THEM DOWN. IM TIRED OF ALL THE POLITICAL CRAP.

  11. Nasty trollop and her ghetto trash boyfriend. If her FB page shows dogfighting connections as someone here said, how can this school district be so stupid as to not vet their employees any better than this? The Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders have more sense. I am sick this hag is out on the streets at all. Poor child to have a skanknof a mother and a degenerate sociopathic man about the house. Rot in hell dogfighters, dogfighting sympathizers, and breeders that serve these cockroaches the animals to torture.

  12. This was posted on her friend’s FB
    Star Greathouse-Moffatt

    23 hrs ·

    “Cage Fighting”

    Yes, I knew Jeffrey D. Moffatt, hubbie is fighting today, however, just learned it will be a “Cage Fight.

    “The Pit” located in Lancaster, California and address: Address: 44460 20th St W, Lancaster, CA 93534. Time: 4:45pm and when: Today!
    Phone:(661) 579-0612

    • I can’t decide which is more alarming, “Cage Fighting” being legal in lancaster, or Star Greathouse-Moffatt being involved in it.

  14. While there is lots about this that is dispicable, I’m not so sure they were directly ‘dog fighting’. Having a persons name and articles about dog fighting does not mean that’s what they did. They might have sold dogs for that, or perhaps sheltered no longer fighting dogs.

    • Get real they only arrest if they have enough to convict…and just they way the animals were found is bad enough….hope in prison they get mudevil on the scum

        • Guilty enough to be arrested. Anyone that supports law enforcement can hardly sit and tell a lawyer they have not passed judgment all ready. Yes I think she’s probably guilty. Am I excused from jury duty sir?

          • Damn is that how I get out of jury duty?? I knew I would learn something from this circus! Life can be so great….if that’s your choice!

          • Speaking of jury duty, back in the 1990s, Roseanne was on Bill Maher’s Politically Incorrect show with 3 female jurors from the OJ trial.

            As the show was closing, Roseanne asked the 3 jurors “How come you couldn’t get out of jury duty?” Too funny.

    • That is a ridiculous give this degenerate filthy excuse of a human the benefit of the doubt. Why isn’t possession of such sick mag rags punishable in the same way kiddie porn is? Its all absolutely revolting.

      Sheltered “no longer fighting dogs”??? NINETEEN were found malnourished and a pup dead in a trash can!

    • I don’t care if she was fighting them or not but every bit of evidence is proving that they did.

  16. How odd that the headline leads with the animal cruelty (dogfighting) charge when Winbush is also charged with child abuse. I guess the writer thought people would be more outraged by the dogfighting. Or is it that child abuse is too common to warrant attention?

    • It’s because they won’t find her guilty anyway. Maybe the dog fighting charges but even then those will be tough. More than likely the charges of animal cruelty might stick but it will be pled down to a misdemeanor.. The Child abuse charge will go away because it wasn’t even child endangerment. .

    • I would bet the child abuse charge stems from having a minor child within reach of dog fighting and breeding equipment, and surrounded by illegal activity.

      I don’t find it odd at all, look at the amount of charges and level of abuse that was happening to the dogs. This woman is a sick, disgusting excuse of a mother and human being. To think she was in charge of peoples children is horrifying. I applaud the law enforcement officers for animal abuse case hopefully some of the dogs can be rehabilitated and rehomed.

  18. Honestly, this is so sad; I cannot believe they would do something like that. That is so horrifying. 29 Counts of Dog Abuse, and Child Abuse, to be honest.. I wouldn’t feel bad if they where sentenced to life in Maximum Security Prison.

    Just reading this breaks my heart.

  20. The district is so good at covering things up. Some of the administrators shouldn’t even be around kids. It is such a travesty! Not many professionals left in that disgusting place!

    • She was the administrator in charge of H.R. and I guess “the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree”. I’ve had the displeasure of interviewing with them last summer and it was the worst interview experience of my life. I have over 15 years of experience in education and these “educators” treat you as if you are asking for charity. I left the interview disgusted by their cruelty and lack of professionalism, they (PSD) really need to work on house cleaning, clear out the webs, please!!!!