13 dogs living in squalor, abandoned
Kent, NY (US)Incident Date: Sunday, Jul 9, 2006
County: Putnam
Charges: Misdemeanor
Disposition: Dismissed
Person of Interest: Linda Dezan Nelson
Case Updates: 7 update(s) available
A potential puppy buyer on July 9, 2006 reported 11 Maltese dogs living in squalor at the Peekskill Hollow Rd residence of Linda Dezan Nelson in the Town of Kent.
Nelson is due back in the Town of Kent Justice Court on March 26, 2007 at 12:30pm for a security posting hearing. Nelson was on the breeder referral list for the American Maltese Association and she is a member of AKC for breeding, showing and selling Maltese dogs. She has been suspended by both organizations pending the outcome of the charges. At least two of the 11 dogs had to undergo emergency surgery due to their neglect. Nelson is continuing to breed and sell dogs for $4,000.
Case UpdatesLinda Nelson, a Kent dog breeder who was accused almost two years ago of animal abuse and neglect, got her final five Maltese dogs back yesterday afternoon.
The return of her purebred animals followed the dismissal of all criminal misdemeanor charges against her.
Nelson was told Thursday that she could retrieve her dogs at the Briarcliff Manor office of the SPCA of Westchester, which had been caring for them since December.
"Oh, how have you been?" Nelson asked a small white dog she called Paddy, who had a small purple bow on his head.
"I am extremely happy. It's been a long 20 months," she said, referring to the protracted legal battle that focused on the seizure of the animals and the investigation. A trial on the abuse charges was never held.
"I have faith in the justice system," she said.
Staff at the SPCA handed her paperwork on each dog showing the animals had medical exams and received rabies and distemper vaccinations. When asked whether she had leashes or cages for the animals, she said she preferred to carry the dogs with the help of a friend to her waiting van and place them in a car seat designed to contain the animals.
"We've become somewhat attached to these dogs," said executive director Shannon Laukhuf, giving a pink-bowed dog a final hug. "I just want them to be well taken care of."
A Kent judge dismissed more than 10 charges in November, saying the evidence of abuse was tainted by what was described as improper police search warrants and misconduct. He ordered the return of six of the dogs and two puppies born while the dogs were being held.
The remaining 10 charges were dismissed March 3, and a return order for the final five dogs was signed March 8 and sent to the Putnam County District Attorney's Office to make the necessary arrangements to "effect the return."
Immediately following their seizure from Nelson's Peekskill Hollow Road home in July 2006, the animals were under the control of the Putnam Humane Society in Carmel. The agency is led by Barbara Dunn, who was also the investigating Putnam County Sheriff's Office deputy in the case.
When information suggested misconduct and lies under oath during preliminary hearings and that paperwork involving the dogs' whereabouts could not be readily furnished to the court, Judge J. Peter Collins ordered the dogs be transferred to the SPCA of Westchester. The two puppies were neutered while under Humane Society control.
Dunn has been reassigned from patrol duty to the communications division, and a special prosecutor has been assigned to review allegations that surfaced during the Nelson proceedings.
Nelson has maintained that she was targeted by Dunn, saying the deputy and animal advocate sought financial gain and publicity for the Humane Society, which is suing Nelson for $64,000 for care of the dogs.
Humane Society workers have said the dogs were held in hot, squalid conditions. They were disappointed with the judge's ruling to dismiss the charges and return the dogs to Nelson.
Collins has said that once the charges were dismissed he had no alternative but to return the animals, which are no longer part of a criminal matter.
An attorney for the Humane Society said he was unhappy to learn that the dogs were moving back to Nelson.
"No trial was held to determine who was telling the truth. Accordingly, the dismissal of the charges against Ms. Nelson and the return of her dogs was totally illegal. Unfortunately, the D.A.'s office failed to appeal," David Bernheim said. "This failure represented an abdication of their responsibility to the public, most of whom abhor wanton cruelty to animals." | Source: LoHud.Com - March 29, 2008
Update posted on Mar 29, 2008 - 10:27PM |
Kent dog breeder Linda Nelson had eight of her 13 dogs returned to her today. Nelson is at the South Putnam Animal Hospital in Mahopac this afternoon, waiting for a veterinarian to examine all 13 of the purebred Maltese canines, she said.
Once the exams are complete, eight will go home with her, she said, and the other five dogs will head to the SPCA of Westchester. Those dogs will remain there until a jury trial set for the end of February decides whether Nelson had abused them.
"They have been in my arms today. I'm so thrilled," said Nelson. "I so missed my babies."
Nelson is facing 10 misdemeanor counts of animal abuse and neglect - reduced from 22 - after an October ruling that six of the animals were taken during an illegal search. Eleven dogs had been taken from her, and two more were born after the seizure.
Kent Town Justice J. Peter Collins odered the return of eight last month, and the transfer of the others to the SPCA, a process subsequently delayed by appeals.
The animals had been under the care of the Putnam Humane Society since their seizure by county sheriff's deputies on July 10, 2006. | Source: The Journal News - Dec 28, 2007
Update posted on Dec 28, 2007 - 8:19PM |
A local dog breeder this morning is expected today to get her arms around six of 11 dogs taken from her 17 months ago.
The transfer is slated to happen by 11 a.m. at a Mahopac veterinarian's office, and to also include two more dogs born after the initial 11 were confiscated.
Linda Nelson, the breeder of the purebred Malteses, is facing 10 misdemeanor counts of animal abuse and neglect - reduced from 22 - after an October ruling that six of the animals were taken during an illegal search. Once the 12 counts were dismissed, state law says the animals must go back to their owner, said Kent Town Justice J. Peter Collins.
The animals have been cared for by the Putnam Humane Society since their seizure by county sheriff's deputies July 10, 2006.
"I want the animals returned, and I want it done today," an emphatic Collins told Humane Society attorney David Bernheim yesterday.
Collins had ordered the return of the animals on Nov. 5 and, two days later, told the Humane Society to transfer care of the remaining five to the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in Westchester.
"It is not whether I want to do something or not," Collins told Bernheim. "It is the law and you, like everyone else, has to follow it."
After running out of appeal options, Bernheim gave in to the court's demands. Collins agreed to wait one day for the animals' return after finally speaking by telephone to Lisa Hauer, the one Humane Society board member who apparently was aware of the dogs' whereabouts.
"This is the first time that any abused animal has been ordered to be returned to an (alleged) animal abuser who was not found to be innocent," Bernheim said after yesterday's six-hour hearing.
Collins threatened to charge Humane Society board members and staffers with contempt, obstructing justice and evidence tampering if they did not expedite the animals' transfer. He said the court was comfortable with returning the dogs to Nelson.
The investigating officer was Deputy Barbara Dunn, who is also the Humane Society president. The judge, along with Nelson's attorneys, have said Dunn's overlapping roles are a conflict of interest that has complicated the criminal and related civil matters.
Dunn has said the animals are in good condition and, when people see photographs of them when they were seized, the abuse would be clear.
"She should not be responsible for the care of animals - ever," Dunn said, referring to Nelson.
She said there is no conflict and her credibility is being unjustly challenged. She also refutes accusations that she has lied at any point in the legal process.
"I did not violate anyone's rights and certainly not Ms. Nelson's," she said during a court break yesterday. "I am appalled at the way the judge had handled this ... as if it is a vendetta against me."
She appeared yesterday in street clothes, not her sheriff's uniform, and was upset at hearing the dogs would go back to a woman she believes is abusive.
"We aren't talking about an unclean house," she said of Nelson's home on the night of the seizure. "It was an appalling sight," with deputies nearly vomiting from the smell, she added.
Society board member Courtney Aponte shouted to Nelson as both exited the courtroom: "You know what you did!"
Aponte said the animals were crowded into two small cages and that piles of garbage littered the floor. There were feces and urine throughout the house, no one home, and no food or water for the animals. She was upset the judge did not set procedures to periodically check the animals.
Nelson's criminal trial is to start Feb. 25. She is also being sued by the Humane Society for more than $64,000 for the animals' care, and is suing the Humane Society, charging civil rights violations. | Source: The Journal News - Dec 28, 2007
Update posted on Dec 28, 2007 - 11:55PM |
Dashing hopes from both sides, a state judge did not rule today whether he would uphold a town judge's ruling that eight dogs seized in an animal abuse investigation be returned to their owner, a Kent dog breeder, after more than half the criminal charges against her were dismissed.
State Supreme Court Justice Andrew O'Rourke received final written arguments from attorneys for breeder Linda Nelson, who faces 10 counts of animal abuse and neglect, reduced from 22, and the Putnam Humane Society, which took in the 11 dogs seized in July 2006 along with two puppies born since then.
He has 60 days to render a written decision and is not expected to hear any more arguments.
The Maltese dogs, according to police and the Humane Society, were in cramped cages without sufficient food and water, and covered in feces and urine.
Nelson has said she is well aware of proper care of animals and that the case against her is built around improper searches and investigation which were personally motivated. She contends a conflict of interest by Putnam sheriff's Deputy Barbara Dunn, the investigating officer who executed the warrants, who is also president of the Humane Society, which is suing Nelson from more than $64,000 for the animals' care.
It remains unclear where the 13 dogs are living, as the Humane Society will not divulge that information. Society board members failed to appear in Kent Town Court last month in response to subpoenas which also ordered the animals' to be produced.
"What is going to happen now is not certain. But we feel confident that the judge will understand our view that none of these animals should go back to Ms. Nelson under the circumstances," said David Bernheim, attorney for the Humane Society.
The Carmel-based shelter filed a motion Nov. 13 to overturn a ruling from Town Justice J. Peter Collins that six dogs seized during an improper search and two puppies born afterward be returned to Nelson. He ordered the other five dogs, whose seizure he upheld, turned over to the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in Westchester until the case was adjudicated.
Nelson's lawyer, Donald Feerick, said she was frustrated with the delay.
"She is having a tough time," he said. "It is unfortunate her property remains out of her possession. The dogs belong home with her. The (town) Justice Court had jurisdiction and its process and mandate is enforceable." | Source: The Journal News - Dec 10, 2007
Update posted on Dec 11, 2007 - 12:37AM |
The Putnam Humane Society said yesterday that it had no intention of complying with a judge's order earlier in the day to return eight Maltese dogs to their owner.
"The Putnam Humane Society is appalled at Judge Collins' decision ordering the return of (six) abused animals to their abusive owner, Linda Nelson," said its attorney, David Bernheim.
Town Justice J. Peter Collins ruled yesterday afternoon that six dogs taken during an unwarranted and improper search by the Putnam County sheriff's deputies had to be returned to Nelson, a dog breeder from Kent Cliffs. Two more were born after the July 2006 seizure.
His ruling was based on his Oct. 5 decision that threw out evidence related to the taking of the six animals from the second floor of Nelson's home. He allowed evidence used in seizing five dogs on the first floor.
"Nelson left the dogs crammed into small cages without food or water during the blazing July heat. But for the timely intervention of the police, the dogs would all have died an agonizing death from thirst," Bernheim said in a statement.
Collins said that, once those portions of the warrants were disallowed and the prosecutor could not present evidence related to those dogs in Nelson's trial, he had "to order the return of the (six) dogs ... and (two) puppies from the litter."
Reached in the early evening, Collins said he would not comment on the society's response, or any matter before his court.
In conjunction with his ruling, Collins reduced the animal abuse and cruelty charges against Nelson from 22 counts to 10.
"Because I cannot present evidence (on the second-floor animals), I cannot prosecute," said county Assistant District Attorney Mary Jane MacCrae.
Collins let stand the counts related to the dogs seized during what he deemed to be a properly executed search of the first floor of the Peekskill Hollow Road home. MacCrae said she would continue to prosecute the 10 remaining misdemeanor counts.
In court, Nelson appeared relieved at hearing some of the dogs were coming back. Attempts to reach her after the Humane Society's defiant statement were unsuccessful.
Nelson also faces civil charges from the Humane Society, which is seeking reimbursement for the care of the seized animals.
Meanwhile, Nelson is suing the Humane Society, saying that its president, sheriff's Deputy Barbara Dunn, who investigates animal-abuse cases, has violated her civil rights.
Nelson contends that it is a conflict for the deputy to be the head of a nonprofit organization that often works with law enforcement, and that proper procedures were not followed during this investigation.
Dunn executed the Nelson warrants and was a key witness in the hearing to suppress some of the evidence, when some conflicting testimony was presented.
Humane Society volunteers say Nelson's legal maneuvers are clouding the real issue of animal abuse. The dogs, popular Maltese canines valued at some $4,000 apiece, were found unattended, without proper water and food, and covered in urine and feces, the society's complaint says.
A prospective buyer came upon the dogs when Nelson was not home, and alerted authorities, the complaint says.
The Humane Society has increased the amount it is seeking from Nelson in its civil action, from $34,000 to $64,000, and Bernheim wants to move the case from Town Court to state Supreme Court.
Dunn and the Humane Society have also joined to sue Nelson and her attorneys, claiming they have made "defamatory allegations" during the court proceedings and to the media, according to an action filed Nov. 1 at the Putnam County courthouse.
Nelson's criminal trial is set for Jan. 21 in Kent. Her civil rights case against Dunn will begin Nov. 16 in federal court in White Plains. | Source: Journa News - Nov 6, 2007
Update posted on Nov 8, 2007 - 12:25AM |
Testimony could continue for a third day Wednesday against a Kent woman whose 11 purebred Maltese dogs were seized by the Putnam County Sheriff's Office for alleged severe neglect and abandonment.
Linda Nelson is facing 22 counts of animal neglect in Town Court but is challenging the grounds on which sheriff's Deputy Barbara Dunn sought and received a warrant to enter her home at 1241 Peekskill Hollow Road and remove the puppies.
Nelson was not the focus of last week's proceedings. Attention was focused on Dunn, a 13-year deputy who has stirred debate because she investigates animal cruelty cases for the sheriff and, in her off-duty hours, is president of the Putnam Humane Society, which has cared for Nelson's dogs for the past year.
The Humane Society is seeking $34,000 from Nelson for their care. They were seized after an Ossining man, who had considered buying a puppy for $3,500, told police that he arrived at Nelson's home to find her not there and the dogs in a hot, sealed house with piles of debris visible inside and outside.
Representatives from the non-profit Humane Society listened intently as Dunn was questioned by Nelson's lawyers for more than two hours Wednesday and three on Friday. She spoke with the members outside during breaks in the proceeding.
Town Justice J. Peter Collins has given Nelson's defense team the option of calling additional deputies this week and, possibly, Town Justice Joseph Esposito, who signed the search warrant just after midnight July 10, 2006.
Because of the late hour of Dunn's request, there is no court recording of the warrant discussion and the only explanatory information is in her written application.
Attorneys Stephen Barry and Jeffrey Kane have asked the court to disallow evidence, such as photographs and written descriptions of the dogs, that police compiled after seizing them, saying the warrant was improperly obtained.
They contend that Dunn supplied incorrect and contradictory information in her application.
Dunn calmly answered questions from Nelson's attorneys last week.
"I did not violate anyone's rights," she said firmly on Friday.
She and other deputies said they could see the puppies in squalid conditions through the windows on July 9, 2006.
Dunn said she entered the home through an unlocked door at 11:15 that night, after a sergeant instructed her to go in and make sure no one was disabled or dead.
Nelson's lawyers suggest it was that encounter on which Dunn based her warrant application.
She said she waited 12 hours, as required by law, before getting court approval to enter the home following the initial animal cruelty complaint. She discovered 10 dogs in two cages without food or water and another outside a cage - and nine were covered in urine and feces that in some instances was caked into their white fur.
Nelson, who was not home during that July weekend, has pleaded not guilty to the 11 counts of animal cruelty and 11 of animal abandonment. She has filed suit in federal court against the county, Dunn and the Humane Society, arguing that her civil rights were violated and that Dunn's dual roles are a conflict.
Kent resident Wilma Baker, who heard the testimony, said she questioned why deputies did not make better attempts to find Nelson and then work with her to correct the situation rather than seizing the dogs and pursuing an expensive legal tack. | Source: LoHud.Com - July 15, 2007
Update posted on Jul 16, 2007 - 2:40AM |
Putnam County dog breeder Linda Nelson, whose 11 pocket-sized Maltese dogs were seized a year ago by the Putnam County Sheriff's Office, pleaded not guilty to charges of animal cruelty and animal abandonment yesterday.
This was the only real outcome to a full day in Kent Justice Court, but arguments about the validity of evidence continue tomorrow.
The balance of yesterday's proceedings pitted lawyers against each other on whether the police search and seizure of the dogs on July 10, 2006, was properly handled.
Nelson's legal team - Jeffrey Kane of Katonah and Stephen Barry of Nyack - contend that sheriff's Deputy Barbara Dunn entered Nelson's home at 1241 Peekskill Hollow Road in Kent to check on the health and welfare of any person inside, and at that point obtained information for the animals' seizure.
They want to show contradictions in Dunn's reports and search warrant application granted by Kent Justice Joseph Esposito and are asking Town Justice J. Peter Collins to not suppress major evidence.
Further, they contend that because Dunn serves as president of the Putnam Humane Society, it is wrong for her to have put these purebred dogs in that group's oversight and charge Nelson $34,000 for their care.
In this way, they suggest the deputy and animal advocate sought a financial gain for her beloved organization.
Putnam County Assistant District Attorney Mary Jane MacCrae spoke of the deplorable conditions at Nelson's home, described as having piles of debris inside and outside.
The purebred white dogs were said to be covered in urine and feces and crowded into small cages without water or food on a hot, humid day.
Yesterday, a handful of Nelson's friends and supporters for the humane society came to court.
Jill Cashman of New York City purchased a Maltese from Nelson nearly two years ago and she can't imagine her not properly caring for animals.
"This is outrageous ," Cashman said. "She is a person whose whole life is about these dogs. This is a power play and not based on caring of animals or people."
Humane society volunteers listened intently and some took notes, but they declined to comment.
The incident began July 9, 2006, when police received a complaint from an Ossining man who had come to Nelson's home to find out about purchasing a dog.
Once there, the man heard dogs barking and found lots of trash.
Deputy John Bradley arrived first and said conditions seemed "unsanitary."
Later, Deputy Jason Wollman conducted a "welfare check" to make sure there wasn't a person in distress or possibly dead inside. | Source: NY Journal News - July 12, 2007
Update posted on Jul 12, 2007 - 3:53PM |
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