By Charles Gladden
BELIZE CITY, Wed. Sept. 24, 2025
  After being on the run for over a year from US law enforcement authorities, Abigail Tuttle O’Keeffe, 54, a Pennsylvania farmer, was apprehended in Belize and has been extradited to the US, where she is facing over 100 counts of animal cruelty charges.
  O’Keeffe, who was sent back to the US on Friday, September 19, had reportedly left the US for a purported one-week vacation last August, but had not returned, leaving her animals in inhumane conditions.
  Months later, in late April of this year, she revealed that she was in Belize, where she was living under the radar in the Valley of Peace community in the Cayo District.
  However, she came under the spotlight when Belize police found an unlicensed firearm and ammunition in her possession at a traffic checkpoint in Benque Viejo Del Carmen Town, Belize. The unlicensed .38 revolver and 55 rounds of live unlicensed ammunition were reportedly concealed inside a black lunch bag wrapped in an American flag that was located in the rear passenger seat of her Ford F250 pickup truck. When the items were found, O’Keeffe reportedly claimed they were a gift.
  She was subsequently arraigned, with no representation, the following day, after which she was deported to the US and sent to the Bucks County Correctional Center.
  The charges being brought against her follow a four-month investigation at her 37-acre Narrow Way Farms.
  Although a majority of the offenses are misdemeanors, O’Keeffe faces two felony charges for aggravated cruelty to animals for the death of two goats, which can potentially result in a seven-year prison sentence.
