CONVICTED: Was justice served?
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Case #1110 Rating: 4.0 out of 5
Hoarding cats and dogs
Blythewood, SC (US)Incident Date: Friday, May 31, 2002
County: Richland
Charges: Misdemeanor
Disposition: Convicted
Defendant/Suspect: Marsha Lucas Teague
Marsha Lucas Teague, 51, pleaded guilty on Tuesday to charges of ill treatment of animals and will spend 60 days in jail. She must report to the Richland County jail every weekend until her sentence is served, said Assistant 5th Circuit Solicitor Jill Andrews.
Judge James Barber also ordered Teague, who has a previous conviction for mistreating animals, to serve three years probation. She cannot have pets during that time.
Police will inspect Teague's home to make sure she complies, Andrews said.
Teague could have been sentenced to 4 and a half years in prison or fined $15,200.
In June, she was charged with 25 counts of ill treatment of animals after police found sick cats and dogs at her home off U.S. 321 southwest of Blythewood.
Previously, she had been convicted of mistreating a dozen cats, some of which were found in her freezer.
"The good news out of this case is that two of the cats were rehabilitated," Andrews said. "The three dogs also were saved."
Humane Society investigator Steve Stephenson said he was pleased Barber ordered home inspections.
In 2001, after she was ordered to have no more than the four dogs and two cats, Stephenson said, she was in violation days later.
This time she will have to spend two years in prison if she violates the judge's order, he said.
"Sixty days doesn't seem like a lot. But the people who get jail time (for animal cruelty) are few and far between," Stephenson said.
Teague is the first person in the area to be convicted on a second offense of animal mistreatment, he said.
Nineteen of Teague's cats had to be destroyed June 19 because they had highly contagious feline leukemia, Stephenson said. Six were kittens.
The animals lived in filth and had little food or water, Stephenson said. It was unclear how many were strays or animals Teague had gotten on her own.
Almost 36 of Teague's diseased cats and kittens have been euthanized since 2001, Stephenson said. References« SC State Animal Cruelty Map
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