Class action in greyhound theft for sale to labs case

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November 2006:
MILWAUKEE–Greyhound racing trainer George Panos, of Hudson,
Wisconsin, in mid-October 2006 filed a class action lawsuit on
behalf of as many as 1,000 racing dog owners against former Greyhound
Adoption of Iowa president Daniel Shonka for allegedly selling dogs
to laboratories without the owners’ consent. Shonka claimed to be
placing the dogs in good homes, the suit alleges.
Shonka on February 6, 2003 pleaded guilty to both felony and
misdemeanor theft of greyhounds by fraud. The owners were told
either that Shonka was racing their dogs at the now defunct St. Croix
Meadows Greyhound Racing Park in Hudson, Wisconsin, or that he had
placed the dogs in homes.

Instead, said Wiscon-sin Division of Gaming chief
administrator Scott Scepaniak, Shonka sold approximately 1,050
greyhounds to the Guidant Corporation for use in cardiac research.
He was paid between $374,000 and $500,000, according to court
documents.
St. Croix County Judge Scott Needham sentenced Shonka to
serve nine months in jail, followed by four years on probation, and
to pay fines and restitution totaling $110,000.