A Lockport dentist who faced possible charges for failing to dispose of animal carcasses on property he owns in Homer Township has properly buried the remains, and no charges will be filed against him, Will County officials said Tuesday.
Richard Stamm faced misdemeanor charges punishable with fines of up to $1,500 for having unburied carcasses of 10 pigs and more than 100 geese strewn about on the 10 acres of farmland at 2509 Farrell Rd., in unincorporated Homer Township. Some of the carcasses had been on the property for nearly a decade, according to county investigators.
The Will County state’s attorney’s office last month gave Stamm 30 days to properly bury the dead animals, and he complied by burying them on the property, according to the county state’s attorney’s office. Will County officials added that Illinois Department of Agriculture inspectors confirmed last week that the remains had been properly buried.
The carcasses were discovered in June by a resident who lives near Stamm’s property who was walking his dog in the area. At the time, Stamm told authorities that the pigs died of infection in the winter of 1989 and that he was unable to bury them at the time because the ground was frozen. The geese, he said, were killed by predators, and their remains were so scattered it was next to impossible to bury them properly.