Former Painted Pastures Employee Files Another Harassment Complaint in Orland Hills
Accused former boss says she can verify where she and her car were that day with a GPS unit.
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Former Painted Pastures employee Christine Kelly has filed another harassment complaint against Dawn Hamill, her former boss.
Hamill, 41, of the 5500 block of 175th Street in Tinley Park, has been charged with 15 counts of animal cruelty and neglect. Cook County Sheriff's Police raided the animal sanctuary in Tinley Park on Feb. 11 and rescued 100 animals. Others, including a miniature horse, were found dead.
Kelly’s latest complaint, filed with Orland Hills police on the afternoon of March 25, contends that Hamill was seen that afternoon circling her new place of work in a blue Hummer. She filed a similar complaint with Oak Forest police just four days prior.
Kelly also told Orland Hills police that she has been receiving harassing emails and phone calls from Hamill since the raid, and that a slanderous letter was sent to her new boss at PetSmart in Orland Hills.
By phone, Hamill called the allegations "completely false" and said she can verify where she was that afternoon, even if PetSmart won't release its surveillance footage. At the advice of her attorney, she said she purchased a GPS unit that logs her car's whereabouts. It allegedly puts Hamill at the Sam's Club and Walmart in Matteson at the time Kelly said Hamill was outside the PetSmart in Orland Hills.
"I'm now her target," Hamill complained. "She has a history of false allegations against people."
Whatever the truth, the allegations go both ways. Hamill claims she fired Kelly on Super Bowl Sunday, less than a week before the raid, for repeatedly overcrowding the sanctuary, in one instance putting 63 dogs in an area big enough for 20. Kelly has told reporters she quit two weeks before the raid. She's expected to testify against her former boss in court.
Kelly was unreachable Friday. The phone number she was previously contacted at has been disconnected.
No harassment charges have been filed against Hamill in Orland Hills. Instead, police asked Kelly to call them immediately if Hamill’s blue Hummer is seen idling round the PetSmart parking lot, which is only a few feet from the Orland Hills police station. There's a thirty minute delay between when Kelly allegedly saw the Hummer and when it was reported to police.
