Lefever, of Honey Brook, was arrested in November and charged with five counts of fraud - three of them felonies - for selling four horses last May to a "kill buyer" who transported them to an abattoir in Quebec.
A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Feb. 6.
Lefever's attorney, Joseph Reilley Jr. of King of Prussia, did not respond to a phone call seeking comment.
One horse owner, Kevin Patterson, told a state police investigator that he gave his retired racehorse, a five-year-old thoroughbred named Beau Jaques, to Lefever with the understanding that the horse - which had suffered a career-ending injury - would be rehabilitated and placed for adoption. He also gave her $200 and 10 bags of feed to help care for the horse until it had a permanent home.
Patterson said he donated Beau Jaques with the understanding that under no circumstances was it to be sold for slaughter. Lefever assured him that she never sent any horses to slaughter, according to court documents.
He later learned that Beau Jaques was sold to Bruce Rotz, a well-known horse meat buyer, and ended up on a trailer bound for a Canadian slaughter plant.
When a woman who was supposed to adopt Beau Jaques told Lefever that Patterson was looking for the horse, Lefever told her "those crazy people don't have to look for their horse anymore because he is in a box in a freezer," according to court documents.
Rescue groups that go to a weekly auction in New Holland and purchase horses that might otherwise be sold for slaughter say Lefever was making about $300 a horse from the kill buyers.
Two checks from Rotz to Lefever, obtained by police, totaled just over $1,500. One marked "four horses" was made out in the amount of $1,286.50.
