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CONVICTED: Was justice served?
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When you vote, you are voting on whether or not the punishment fit the crime, NOT on the severity of the case itself. If you feel the sentence was very weak, you would vote 1 star. If you feel the sentence was very strong, you would vote 5 stars.
Please vote honestly and realistically. These ratings will be used a a tool for many future programs, including a "Peoples Choice" of best and worst sentencing, DA and judge "report cards", and more. Try to resist the temptation to vote 1 star on every case, even if you feel that 100 years in prison isnt enough.
Case #17452 Rating: 3.6 out of 5
Monday, Feb 8, 2010
County: Kern
Charges: Misdemeanor
Disposition: Convicted
Defendant/Suspect: Kimberly Anne Maggio
Case Updates: 3 update(s) available
A woman with connections to convicted animal abuser Cynthia Gudger was arrested Monday on animal abuse charges of her own.
Kim Maggio, 49, of Frazier Park was evicted from her home on Elm Trail just before 10 a.m. Monday as a result of a bank foreclosure, a Kern County Sheriff's Department report stated.
During the eviction, which was attended by Kern County Animal Control and Code Enforcement officers, seven dogs, 12 cats and one rat were found living inside the home in "deplorable" conditions without fresh water.
One dead dog was in a freezer.
Most of the living dogs were small breeds, according to Lt. Dennis Smithson of the Kern County Sheriff's Department, who was at the home Monday morning.
The sheriff's report states that some of the animals' legs were covered in feces.
Inside the home the stench of urine and feces was so strong that it burned officers eyes and throats, reports stated.
Smithson said they didn't expect to find the terrible conditions in the home.
"We knew there were going to be a lot of animals," he said.
Animal control and code enforcement officials were there to take custody of whatever animals were found.
What they found was an unsanitary environment.
"It was pretty bad," Smithson said. "There was dog feces; you had to walk pretty carefully to get around it. There was no water. I mean there were water dishes but they were filled with urine and dog feces and what might have originally been water."
And the small three-level house, apparently, could have been home to more animals.
Smithson said there were travel kennels stacked against one wall of the house three deep and five long.
"She had room for more," he said.
Kern County Animal Control Director Guy Shaw said that Maggio, who was aware that the Sheriff's Department would be evicting her Monday, had reportedly moved a number of other animals to at least one other location.
The county is also concerned about the condition of those animals, he said.
"We're going to continue our investigation on that," Shaw said.
Smithson said Maggio faces 20 counts of animal abuse -- one for each one of the animals found in her care at the time of her arrest.
This isn't the first time Maggio's name has been connected to stories about Kern County animal abuse.
In 2008 Maggio tried to convince a Kern County Superior Court commissioner to give her the animals that Kern County Animal Control officers had seized from convicted animal abuser Cynthia Gudger -- who was then on trial for the charges.
Maggio told the court she was an agent of VIVA, a Lompoc rescue group, and would transfer the animals to their shelter.
But VIVA founder and treasurer Shirley Cram said she had never heard of Maggio and that Maggio was not acting on behalf of her rescue.
Maggio also has a checkered past with animal control, including complaints of barking and at least one case in which she cleaned up her home after it was found to be in substandard condition, Shaw said.
Case Updates
A Frazier Park woman was sentenced Thursday to three years probation and 240 hours of community service for animal cruelty.
Kim Maggio was arrested in February 2010 after numerous animals were found in what were described as deplorable conditions at her home on Elm Trail. The discovery was made by Kern County deputies who were evicting Maggio during a foreclosure.
Kern County Animal Control investigators found seven dogs, 12 cats and a rat living in the home, plus one small dead dog in a freezer.
"There was no fresh water for the animals," Lt. Dennis Smithson told Eyewitness News when Maggio was arrested last year.
Some of the animals legs were covered in feces. The house smelled of urine and feces to the point that it burned the eyes and throats of the officers, Smithson said.
Maggio claimed her home was a rescue operation.
Source: bakersfieldnow.com - Oct 20, 2011
Update posted on Oct 21, 2011 - 1:47AM |
A jury trial for Kimberly Anne Maggio, 49 of Frazier Park, charged with 23 counts of animal cruelty, is scheduled for Monday, Aug. 30 at 9 a.m. in the Metro Division of Superior Court (at 1415 Truxton Avenue) in Bakersfield.
Maggio was arrested on February 8, 2010 during foreclosure on her Elm Street home in Frazier Park. Twelve cats, seven dogs and a rat were removed from the home. At the scene, county workers said the animals were living in "deplorable conditions." Maggio disputes that. She said she was rescuing animals and giving them a safe place to live, but that she had been away from the home for two days because of an event that ended in an earlier arrest and incarceration.
People who fostered the animals which were removed from the home, including several chihuahuas seen by this reporter, claim that some animals were not allowed to leave their cages and were abused. Joy Ray, among others, claimed that Maggio was "selling" animals, rather than rescuing them. Others claim they were pleased with the adoptions they arranged with her. The judge set bail at $40,000. |
Source: mountainenterprise.com - Aug. 29, 2010
Update posted on Feb 20, 2011 - 10:56PM |
A woman denies that animals were kept in horrible conditions in her Frazier Park home.
Kim Maggio, 49, faces 20 charges of felony animal cruelty after cats, dogs and a rat were seized by officers serving an eviction notice. Maggio said she kept animals in the house as a rescue operation, but conditions were always humane, she said.
"I have 20 felony charges against me, and there's not one sick animal and not one emaciated animal," Maggio said from jail on Tuesday. "Everybody was well cared for."
Animal control officers had gone with Kern County Sheriff's deputies on Monday to the home on Elm Trail to post the eviction notice. Officers said they had been told there was a large number of animals at the home.
"There was dog feces on the floor, there was no fresh water for the animals," Lt. Dennis Smithson told Eyewitness News on Monday. "And you're familiar with the ammonia smell? That was really bad. And there were animals, the cats locked in one particular bedroom, and so that was pretty bad."
Maggio disputed that, but said things were not exactly how she wanted them.
"It wasn't clean enough, it wasn't up to my standards," she said. "But, I wouldn't call it deplorable."
Maggio said she kept about 20 animals at a time, and for no more than a couple weeks. Maggio said her's was a rescue operation, and she said that is not being a hoarder.
"I adopt out. I find them homes," she said.
Maggio said she's owned the house for about six years, but she had gotten behind in payments. She knew the house was going into foreclosure, and she was planning to move. Maggio also said she planned to end her rescue operation. She blamed both problems on the bad economy.
"It's just been horrible, and I've been trying, and I do my best," Maggio said. "I guess it just wasn't good enough."
Maggio said she had moved out a couple years ago, and planned to sell the Frazier Park home. At that point, she moved with the animals into a house near Tehachapi, owned by Susan Marlow. It's the same house where
"They came running after me, and he started hitting me, struck my head and hit it against the steering wheel," Maggio said. She said as the couple grabbed her, she bit the man.
"I bit him, it was self-defense," Maggio said.
But she was arrested, and faces charges of burglary and assault in that incident.
Maggio said it's been harder to find foster and adoptive homes for animals, she's been sick, and she was losing the house. It's all added up, and she's ready to end her rescuing. But, she disputes the animal cruelty charges and the allegations leveled against her.
"I can't do this any more, because there's so many people against you," Maggio said. "And you do your best, you try, nobody wants to help, everybody wants to criticize." |
Source: bakersfieldnow.com - Feb 9, 2010
Update posted on Feb 20, 2011 - 10:53PM |
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