CONVICTED: Was justice served?
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Case #13098 Rating: 4.0 out of 5
Dogs bred by convicted probationer abuser
Medina, OH (US)Incident Date: Friday, Nov 1, 1996
County: Ashland
Disposition: Convicted
Defendant/Suspect: Patricia Brooks
Not long after the 1996 ruling, Brooks surreptitiously signed legal control of her dogs over to her mom. Then, without telling neighbors, Brooks and her mom silently packed up and moved to Ashland County with the dogs.
Judge Chase had ordered the breeder to get rid of her dogs - but he hadn't checked to see whom she might give them to. And Blake didn't have the court's authority to take them herself - thanks to Ohio's weak animal-cruelty regulations, says Susan Adams, of the Humane Society of the United States. "You don't even have to have a permit to establish a puppy mill," Adams says, "and there are no inspections or requirements to breed them. I would hope that the state would take cruelty more seriously."
As part of Brooks' sentencing, she was required to meet regularly with a probation officer. She was usually careful to arrange the meeting so that she visited him in his office. But in early 1997, the probation officer stopped by her new home unannounced. He found 58 dogs living in squalor, with little food or water.
Officers from the Ashland County Humane Society quickly confiscated the dogs. Jan, as primary caretaker, was charged - and found guilty - of animal cruelty. Brooks was found in violation of probation. She spent 12 days in the Medina County jail. References« OH State Animal Cruelty Map
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