A township animal control officer facing multiple charges in both Old Bridge and Marlboro Township will not have her day in either municipality�s court until the Middlesex County Prosecutor�s Office evaluates all the charges against her and determines where they should be heard.
The decision from the prosecutor�s office resulted in the indefinite postponement of Wednesday�s scheduled appearance by Morganville residents Steve and Jennylyn Wall in Marlboro Township Municipal Court, where they were to face charges of neglecting five Yorkshire terriers in their care, according to Stuart Goldman, chief humane enforcement officer for the Monmouth County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA). The SPCA is the agency that filed the charges of neglect.
Because charges of third-degree theft filed in Old Bridge against Jennylyn Wall, a veteran township animal officer, are indictable and could carry a more severe penalty, the prosecutor�s office will first review all of the charges from both townships and decide when they will be heard and in which jurisdiction, Goldman said.
The couple was scheduled to appear in Marlboro municipal court at 9 a.m. Jan. 22 to face the charges of neglect, which were filed after the SPCA removed the five terriers from the Walls� Texas Road home during a Dec. 13 raid by police from Old Bridge and Marlboro and the Middlesex County Prosecutor�s Office.
Jennylyn Wall, 44, was charged with third-degree theft by Old Bridge police after authorities allegedly discovered more than $50,000 worth of stolen pet food and supplies in her possession during the 14-hour raid.
Those supplies, many of which had reportedly been donated to the shelter from the pet supply retailer Petco, were discovered at both her home and her private dog grooming business, It�s a Dog�s Life, located on Cottrell Road in Old Bridge, according to police.
Old Bridge police reportedly seized five truckloads of pet food, medications, leashes, beds, blankets and other supplies from Wall�s home and business which will be used as evidence against the township animal control officer of 23 years.
Because the dogs and the pet supplies were all seized in a raid executed under one search warrant, the Middlesex County Prosecutor�s Office intends to review all charges and separate them for hearings in the appropriate jurisdictions, Goldman said.
Although the animal neglect charges faced by the Walls in Marlboro and the theft charges faced by Jennylyn Wall in Old Bridge are essentially unrelated, protocol dictates that the prosecutor�s office review the charges first and then send them back to the jurisdictions, Goldman noted.
The criminal charges brought against the Walls by the SPCA include five counts of failure to provide proper veterinary care for the five dogs. Those charges are based upon the SPCA�s assertion that the Walls failed to properly care for the dogs which were found in poor health at the time of the raid by authorities, according to Goldman.
If convicted, the Walls could both face six months in jail and fines of up to $1,000 on each of the five criminal charges in that case, Goldman said.
Ronald Abramowitz, an assistant prosecutor for Middlesex County, has been assigned to review the case against the Walls, according to a representative of the prosecutor�s office. That representative would not release any other information about the case or the dates of possible hearings.
The Walls were notified by the office of their attorney, Joe Benedict, earlier this week that the hearing in Marlboro had been postponed, according to Steve Wall, 58. However, he said that he did not know the exact circumstances surrounding the postponement.
After her Dec. 13 arrest, Jennylyn Wall was suspended with pay from her job at the municipal shelter. On Dec. 20, she was suspended without pay when she failed to appear the previous day in municipal court for a scheduled administrative hearing on the charges.
In a Dec. 24 interview, Benedict told Greater Media Newspapers that the Walls had decided to go to court in Marlboro to fight the criminal charges filed against them by the SPCA in that township.
With his clients� decision to face trial, Benedict had the arraignment scheduled for Dec. 23 waived and the trial date set for next week, he said.
A veterinarian at the Sayrebrook Veterinary Hospital in Sayreville, who recently examined the five terriers following their release from the SPCA�s custody, will provide expert testimony on the Walls� behalf at the upcoming trial, Benedict said.
That veterinarian will testify that the poor health of the five terriers, who are estimated to be between 18 and 20 years old, resulted from their advanced age, not neglect by the Walls, Benedict said.
Claims by SPCA authorities that the Walls neglected the dogs is "a real stretch," Benedict has said.
At the couple�s request, the five dogs remain in custody of the Sayrebrook Veterinary Hospital, Steve Wall said.
Benedict is also representing Jennylyn Wall on the theft charges filed by Old Bridge. In his client�s defense, Benedict said that Wall only removed the donated items if she rendered them badly damaged or otherwise unusable by the township kennel.
Wall, in turn, donated many of those damaged items to an otter hound rescue she operates, Benedict said.
Usually Petco delivered the donations directly to the kennel, which is located at the township�s municipal center, Benedict said.
A series of memos sent to Wall by her supervisors over the past several months will back up the attorney�s claim that his client has been unjustly charged with stealing, Benedict said.
Because the township administration had planned to terminate Wall and fellow animal control officer Barbara Lee Brucker, a 21-year employee, in order to save approximately $100,000 in the 2003 fiscal year budget, officials were looking for a way to legally terminate her, according to Benedict.
The kennel�s day-to-day operations, now under control of the police department�s special investigative units, would have been turned over to the Middlesex County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals had the administration�s plan been approved by the Township Council; however, council members agreed to keep the shelter under municipal control after residents and veterinarians vocally opposed the outsourcing plan during meetings last summer.
A $75,000 line item to cover both Wall�s and Brucker�s salaries has been included in the $41.7 million budget for fiscal year 2003 that was unanimously approved by the council Monday night. References« Back to Search Results
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