Attorneys/Judges
| Prosecutor(s): | Brendan Clary | | Defense(s): | Anne Benaroya | | Judge(s): | Pamila Brown, Thomas Nissel, Diane Leasure |
CONVICTED: Was justice served?
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Case #10008 Rating: 2.0 out of 5
Hoarding over 100 cats, approx 77 found dead
Columbia, MD (US)Incident Date: Thursday, Aug 10, 2006
County: Howard
Charges: Misdemeanor
Disposition: Convicted
Defendants/Suspects:
» Ayten Icgoren
» Nese Enetulla Icgoren
Case Updates: 8 update(s) available
Howard County Police charged two women with 225 counts of animal cruelty for hoarding more than 100 diseased and dead cats in their fetid Columbia home.
"When we opened the door to the basement, our eyes immediately slammed shut and started to burn along with our chests and throats from the overwhelming stench of urine," stated the charging documents, completed by Animal Control Officer S. Carlson, of the stench from the nearly 8 inches of animal waste caked to the floors.
Charging documents, filed last week, described a lurid scene at Ayten Icgoren and Nese Enetulla Icgoren's Swan Point residence in mid-August:
* Animal control officers removed 58 sick cats, with ailments including bloody paws, blindness and difficulty breathing.
* Of the living cats, 50 were euthanized, and five more have since died.
* Officers removed 17 carcasses, some lumped in boxes, but an additional "50-60 dead cats were left inside the residence because the bodies were so badly decomposed they were stuck to the floors, boxes and bags," according to the charging documents.
The Howard County Police Department consulted with the state's attorney to determine appropriate charges, Howard County Police Department spokeswoman Sherry Llewellyn said.
Three misdemeanor animal cruelty charges were made for each of the 75 cats removed from the premises. For 150 of the counts, the women can face up to a $1,000 fine and up to 90 days in jail for each count. Each of the remaining 75 counts can carry up to a $1,000 fine.
The women also could be ordered to undergo psychological counseling.
The Icgorens are probably animal hoarders, a condition linked to psychological disorders such as obsessive compulsive disorder and schizophrenia, said Kim Intino, director of animal sheltering issues for the Humane Society of the United States.
"While this is a sad situation for everyone involved, charges simply seemed to be the most appropriate thing in this case due to the severity of the situation," Llewellyn said.
"The conditions inside of this residence were really horrific for the cats," she said.
Ayten Icgoren also was charged with animal cruelty in 2004 and fined $150.
Case UpdatesA 52-year-old Columbia woman was sentenced to 74 days in prison Friday for a 2006 animal cruelty case in which more than 70 dead and dying cats were seized from her Owen Brown condominium.
Nese Enetullah Icgoren, of the 7300 block of Swan Point Way, was convicted in April by Judge Diane Leasure of multiple counts of animal cruelty.
In handing down her sentence Friday, Leasure essentially sentenced Icgoren to a day in jail for each cat found in the condo.
“It was a horrible situation by any description,” Leasure said. “It was deplorable.”
When animal control officials raided the Owen Brown condo on Aug. 10, 2006, they found piles of feces, an overwhelming stench of urine and dead and dying cats throughout the home, according to charging documents.
Prior to sentencing, Icgoren addressed the court and apologized for her behavior. She blamed her failure to make sure the cats were not properly treated on her inability to stand up to her mother, Ayten Icgoren, who lived with her in Owen Brown.
Ayten Icgoren, 81, was convicted of multiple counts of animal cruelty in 2008 and sentenced earlier this year to six months in prison, based on the same raid.
“I wish I was stronger. I wish I was more persistent with my mother,” Nese Icgoren said. “She doesn’t listen to me no matter how much I insist.
“For the cats I wish I could have done more but I couldn’t,” she added.
She also said that if cats could speak they would testify on her behalf that, “I did what I could for them.”
Ayten Icgoren was in court Friday to speak on her daughter’s behalf. She said that in her native Turkish culture it was unthinkable for a daughter to disobey her parents.
“My daughter couldn’t do anything, I’m a stubborn person,” she said.
John Christopher Belcher, Icgoren’s attorney, said he had hoped that Leasure would not sentence Icgoren to prison, considering her history of loving animals.
He said Icgoren had lived around animals her entire life and had been a show jumper in horse competitions. She lived for a long time on a farm in southern Virginia, where she had been surrounded by animals and cared for them, he said.
He also said Nese Icgoren was psychologically dependent on her mother and therefore couldn’t be held culpable.
But Assistant State’s Attorney Devora Pontell, who prosecuted the case, argued that neighbors needed to be reassured that their peace of mind would not be disturbed again by any health hazard the Icgoren’s house posed.
“You have a right to live in your residence undisturbed by other people,” she said.
She added that Nese Icgoren was the owner of the condo and therefore responsible for it.
Pontell also noted that there is currently one cat living in the Icgorens’ condo and asked the judge to order that the cat be removed.
“I don’t think there should be any cats in that residence at all,” she said.
Leasure, however, said the cat could stay in the residence provided it was spayed or neutered.
After the judge’s ruling, Pontell said she agreed with the sentence, calling a day in jail for each of the cats seized "equitable." | Source: Explorehoward.com - Aug 14, 2009
Update posted on Aug 14, 2009 - 7:55PM |
A Columbia woman whose 81-year-old mother was sent to jail in January for violating probation on an animal cruelty charge was found guilty Wednesday of similar cruelty charges by a Howard County judge.
Nese Icgoren, 52, of the 7300 block of Swan Court Way in Columbia, faced 148 charges of mistreating cats found either dead or dying by animal control officers in August 2006. Authorities had found more than 50 live cats and some dead ones during a raid on the home. Neighbors had complained to county authorities that Icgoren's home had an unbearable smell and that the bugs in the home were causing an infestation in adjacent townhouses.
Icgoren's attorney, Anne Benaroya, had argued that the cats belonged to Ayten Icgoren, who is serving six months in the Howard County Detention Center. But Circuit Judge Diane Leasure disagreed, citing evidence of abuse, as well as the testimony of a neighbor of the Icgorens.
Nese Icgoren, who declined to speak on her own behalf, will be sentenced July 10. As part of her pre-sentencing guidelines, she must bring the one cat she says she owns to a veterinarian and turn it over to animal control if it has not been properly cared for. | Source: Baltimore Sun - April 8, 2009
Update posted on Apr 8, 2009 - 3:11PM |
The judge said he was reluctant to send an octogenarian to jail. But Howard County Circuit Judge J. Thomas Nissel did just that yesterday, sentencing 81-year-old Ayten Icgoren to six months behind bars for mistreating dozens of cats in the Columbia townhouse where she lived with her daughter.
"If it had been a younger person, I would have given you a much longer sentence," said Nissel, who suspended consecutive 90-day terms on all but the first two charges.
Icgoren, of the 7300 block of Swan Point Way, also will serve 18 months of probation after she is released from the county's detention center.
After her conviction in September on 21 counts of animal cruelty and neglect, Icgoren violated the terms of her presentencing release by continuing to own and mistreat a cat, prosecutors said. Icgoren claimed the cat belonged to her daughter, Nece, who is awaiting trial in April on more than 150 similar charges.
"You seem to defy authority," Nissel told the elder Icgoren during yesterday's hearing. "Quite frankly, society reaches limits."
In August 2006, authorities found more than 50 live cats and some dead ones during a raid on the home. Neighbors had complained to county authorities that Icgoren's home had an unbearable smell and that the bugs in her home were causing an infestation in adjacent townhouses
Assistant State's Attorney Devora Pontell had requested an 18-month prison term. | Source: Baltimore Sun - Jan 9, 2009
Update posted on Jan 11, 2009 - 2:37AM |
A Howard County District Court judge has ordered an Owen Brown woman to face animal cruelty charges in a 2006 cat hoarding case because of what prosecutors describe as the woman's violation of an agreement she struck to avoid prosecution.
Nese Entullah Icgoren, 51, of the 7300 block of Swan Point Way, in Columbia, faces 150 charges of animal cruelty, according to Wayne Kirwan, a spokesman for acting Howard State's Attorney Dario Broccolino.
In August 2006, animal control officials seized 75 cats -- 17 that were dead and 50 so sick they had to be euthanized -- from the Owen Brown townhouse where Icgoren lives with her mother, Ayten Icgoren, 80.
The seizure followed complaints from neighbors about odors emanating from the house, police said. Another 50 to 60 dead cats were left in the house because their bodies were so badly decomposed, according to Kirwan.
Prosecutors reached an agreement in March 2007 with Nese Icgoren, who owns the townhouse, to place the animal cruelty charges against her on an inactive docket if she agreed not to own any animals or violate any laws for a year.
However, on Dec. 18, 2007, Assistant State's Attorney Devora Pontell requested the case be reopened because of evidence that suggested that Nese Icgoren still had cats in her house, according to court documents.
At a Feb. 27 court hearing, Assistant State's Attorney Brendan Clary told Judge Pamila Brown that police had discovered receipts for cat food, empty cat food cans and discarded kitty litter in curbside trash bags outside Icgoren's house, Kirwan said.
Using the receipts, police reviewed store security video from a Wal-Mart showing Nese Icgoren purchasing cat food, leading police to believe there were still cats in the house, Kirwan said.
At the Feb. 27 hearing, Icgoren told Brown the cat food was for feral cats living in the neighborhood and near her place of work, Kirwan said.
However, Brown ruled that there was enough evidence to reactivate the charges and scheduled a trial for June 27, Kirwan said.
Anne Benaroya, Nese Icgoren's attorney, declined to comment.
In March 2007, Ayten Icgoren entered an Alford plea to 20 counts of animal cruelty stemming from the same case, Kirwan said. An Alford plea occurs when a defendant pleads guilty without admitting responsibility for the crime, he said.
Following the plea, District Court Judge Neil Axel convicted her of animal cruelty and sentenced her to 360 days in jail, suspending the entire sentence.
Axel also sentenced Ayten Icgoren to three years of probation and to pay $10,564 in restitution to Howard County Animal Control, a division of the police department, for veterinary expenses the office incurred in paying for the sick cats, Kirwan said.
Ayten Icgoren appealed the conviction and a trial in the matter is scheduled for April 8 in Howard County Circuit Court.
Ayten Icgoren has not retained an attorney in the case, according to Kirwan. | Source: Howard County Times - March 6, 2008
Update posted on Mar 7, 2008 - 3:07AM |
An 80-year-old woman who hoarded more than 75 cats in her Columbia town house must pay Howard County Animal Control more than $10,000 in restitution and is barred from owning pets ever again.
Court documents show that authorities found 58 live cats and 17 dead ones, some infested with maggots, inside Ayten Icgoren's town home. Fifty of the live cats were euthanized.
In March, Icgoren entered an Alford plea to animal cruelty charges, meaning she acknowledged that prosecutors had enough evidence to convict her.
A Howard County judge ordered three years of probation for Icgoren with routine house checks and gave her a suspended 360-day sentence.
Neighbors testified that the house still reeks of urine. In her plea, Icgoren said her neighbors were liars who never saw the inside of her home. | Source: WUSA - Oct 5, 2007
Update posted on Oct 7, 2007 - 3:20AM |
Two Columbia women accused of having dozens of dead and sick cats in their home accepted plea deals today. Dr. Ayten Icgoren, 80, a Turkish citizen, and her daughter, Nese, 50, faced hundreds of counts of animal cruelty and neglect.
Ayten Icgoren made an Alfred plea on Friday, saying that she didn't admit to doing anything wrong but couldn't contest the evidence against her.
Nese Icgoren's case was set on the inactive docket. She was ordered to obey all laws and have no animals for at least a year. | Source: WBAL - March 16, 2007
Update posted on Mar 16, 2007 - 11:57PM |
Two Columbia women are scheduled to go on trial Friday on 225 counts of animal cruelty. The women, Ayten and Nese Icgoren, are accused of having more than six dozen diseased and dead cats at their home in the 7300 block of Swan Point Way.
Police and county animal-control officers searched the residence in August and reported finding cat urine and feces throughout the home. Officials also found two boxes of decomposing dead cats.
Most of the cats found alive had to be euthanized. | Source: WJZ - March 16, 2007
Update posted on Mar 16, 2007 - 3:56PM |
Some Columbia residents say there's still an odor from the house of a couple charged in September with 225 counts of animal cruelty because of more than 100 diseased and dead cats inside.
"We just want to be able to enjoy our home without having to walk out with the place smelling like a barn," Joe Wasserman told The (Baltimore) Examiner. He and his wife live in a townhouse that's attached to Ayten Icgoren and Nese Enetulla Icgoren's residence.
Wasserman, his wife and another neighbor wrote a letter last week to the county health department to criticize the county's response.
But Howard County Health Department Environmental Health Director Bob Weber said a health inspector evaluated the home Nov. 13 after the Icgorens cleaned the home.
"The odor was very minimal when you were standing in the foyer inside the house and outside the house," he said. He said the odor is occasionally noticed outside if the Icgorens' windows are open.
But Wasserman told the Examiner inspectors weren't allowed to examine the basement or attic which charging documents allege were covered in dead cats, insects, cat feces and urine.
Weber admitted that those areas weren't inspected, but he said health officials don't have such legal authority. "We have to do the best we can given what the homeowners are allowing us to do. It's dramatically less of a problem than it was originally." | Source: Yahoo News - Nov 28, 2006
Update posted on Nov 29, 2006 - 10:17PM |
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