OWEGO, N.Y. (WENY) -- The man who set fire to a horse barn at Tioga Downs last year was sentenced at Tioga County Court on Friday.

On November 9, 2023, Boyd Fenton, 33, snuck into the barn and intentionally set a fire, killing thirty race horses and a cat. A trainer was also hurt when they tried to rescue horses from the flames.  

Owners of the horses who were killed, alongside the horse trainers affected by the tragedy, were in court in Owego to see Fenton sentenced to prison.  

 

Mindy Repko and her husband Jan were among those to see Fenton learn his fate. The Repkos owned five of the 30 horses that died in the barn fire, named Schlitz, Macaroni, and Oliver. They shared two other horses in a partnership, that also died. The Repkos say the loss affected them profoundly.

“I don’t even know how he [Fenton] can fathom what it is that he has done to us,” Mindy Repko said. 

The Repkos were in Indiana when they received the call they said changed their lives forever.  

“I just looked at him [Jan] and I’m like, ‘What are you saying? How could they just be gone,’” she said. “I made my way to the couch and that’s where I stayed for...I couldn’t even tell you how long.” 

Fenton pleaded guilty in January to charges of arson, assault, and 30 counts of interference with injury to domestic animals, one for each horse killed in the fire.  On Friday, he was escorted into Tioga County Court with his head down, wearing an orange jail jumpsuit. During the hearing, he declined to speak before the court. The judge spelled out the sentences for more than 30 charges against him, all of which will be served concurrently. In total, Fenton will spent between seven and 15 years in state prison.

“I understand the law,” Repko said. “I don’t agree with it....is it enough? No, not at all.”  

During the sentencing hearing, Repko stared Fenton down as she read a letter from herself, and all the owners and trainers, who were impacted by the barn fire. She shared with the court, that after learning she could not have children of her own, her horses filled that hole in her and Jan’s hearts. Now, she said she goes to therapy to cope with her loss.  

“The second anxiety attack...he [Jan] said, ‘I’m taking you to the hospital,’ and I said, ‘No, you’re not,’” she said. “I said to him, ‘Jan, I don’t care. If I die, I will go and be with my boys.’” 

After the sentencing, Repko said she hopes Fenton understands that none of this can be undone, and life will never be the same.