A couple in Orange County may be charged with animal cruelty or neglect over 66 dogs that were found on their property. Investigators stated they found feces, urine, ticks and fleas inside the house, and they documented unclean living conditions, dogs that appeared to be under nourished, and several dogs that had visible skin lesions.
Robbin and Kenneth Wiseman say they meant no harm to the animals, but prosecutors may announce a decision on charges this week.
In the meantime, rescue groups are working with county officials to restore the dogs' health so they can be put up for adoption. The Wiseman's ran a greyhound rescue program. Case Updates| Posted on Nov 1, 2005 - 8:33AM | In a quick hearing in Orange County District Court Monday, Judge Alonzo Coleman accepted a plea agreement in the case of a Cedar Grove couple charged with abusing and neglecting greyhounds.
It was the same plea agreement another judge rejected four weeks ago.
Robbin and Ken Wiseman pleaded no contest to 47 counts each of misdemeanor cruelty to animals Monday in a hearing that took just five minutes. Coleman, who said he already knew about the case, did not ask for any information about it.
Instead, he accepted the plea agreement and sentenced each Wiseman to two consecutive 45-day sentences. He then suspended the sentences and placed each of the defendants on supervised probation for three years. The Wisemans are also under a court order not to own any dogs for five years, and they are subject to warrantless searches.
The Wisemans also must obtain mental health evaluations and undergo treatment if recommended and pay $2,045.66 each in restitution.
On Oct. 3, District Court Judge Pat DeVine rejected the same plea agreement, apparently after an attorney misspoke during the hearing and said the couple was pleading no contest to only two counts of cruelty to animals. In reality, the couple was pleading no contest to 47 counts.
Under state sentencing laws, the deal was the most severe punishment the state could seek against the Wisemans.
The Wisemans were charged after Orange County Animal Control officers found they were keeping 66 dogs inside their home in northern Orange County. Some of the dogs were in crates, and most of them were severely underweight. Many were covered with ticks, and they slept in piles of feces and matted hair.
Animal Control officers even found a couple of very sick dogs the couple had hidden in their hot attic. Five dogs had to be euthanized, and at least two have died since they were removed from the home.
The Wisemans met the definition of "hoarders," people who collect animals believing they are rescuing them from abusive conditions. Instead they collect so many, they are not able to properly care for them, said Assistant District Attorney Steve Motta.
Carol Young of the Triangle Greyhound Society said she was hoping the Wisemans would receive a more severe punishment, possibly one month in jail for each dog that was euthanized.
"It was disappointing," she said of the plea agreement. "I was hoping that at least they would get another stern lecture." | | Source: The Herald Sun - Oct 31, 2005 |
| Posted on Oct 4, 2005 - 8:31AM | On Monday, a judge rejected a plea agreement that would have given the couple 36 months probation and prohibited them from owning or caring for animals for five years, during which time they would have had to agree to unscheduled searches of their home, plus pay back $2,045.66 in restitution each.
Under the deal, the Wisemans, planned to plead no contest to all 47 counts of misdemeanor animal cruelty. If they violated their probation terms, they could have spent as long as 90 days in jail.
"We have people who break into empty shacks who get more time than what you're doing here," Orange-Chatham District Court Judge Pat Devine said.
Lawyers on both sides called the couple's actions "animal hoarding," a mental illness defined in an Illinois statute as accumulating large numbers of animals without providing minimal care for them, and failing to acknowledge the animals' deteriorating conditions or the negative effect on their own health or households.
But Devine said she needed proof -- thorough mental health assessments -- before signing off on the plea. Otherwise they could take the plea to another judge.
"I am not able or willing to put my signature on a piece of paper with the result you are asking," she said, later adding, "How could they not see what I am seeing or feel anything but helpless denial?"
The Wisemans have no prior convictions, and North Carolina's sentencing rules don't allow a judge to sentence them to any jail time unless they violate probation.
The Wisemans chose another judge, and were scheduled to appear Oct. 31 in front of District Judge Alonzo Coleman.
In May, the Wisemans, of 5530 Old Noble Road, voluntarily surrendered 66 dogs to the county after a tip had led animal control officer Harvey Melton Jr. to call the couple a few days beforehand.
Over the phone, Robbin Wiseman told animal control she kept 12 or 13 animals, Melton said in court. Then, in front of the house, she said 13 to 17. The first time Melton entered the house, animal control officials counted about 30 on the first floor.
Feces and urine carpeted cages and caked some of the animals to the point that they were burned from sitting in the urine, said Carol Young, a volunteer with the Triangle Greyhound Society who helped take in some of the dogs. Dense tick colonies dug into many so that identifying tattoos most greyhounds have inside their ears cold not be seen. Many were underweight, one down to 47 pounds when she should have been 74, Young said.
Five were so malnourished and ill that they were immediately euthanized. One or two others have died since then, but most have been adopted or are in animal foster care and are recovering, Melton said. | | Source: News Observer - Oct 4, 2005 |
| Posted on Jul 25, 2005 - 1:30AM | The Wisemans have been charged with 47 counts each of cruelty to animals. They were scheduled to appear in Orange County District Court this past week, but their cases were continued until Sept. 1.
When Animal Control officers seized the dogs, they contacted greyhound rescue groups, and the groups quickly organized to begin finding places for the dogs to receive the veterinary treatment, food and care they would need to recover.
Joanna Wolfe, president of the Triangle Greyhound Society, took on the chore of contacting rescue groups around the state to ask how many dogs they could take and arranged for the dogs to be transported to those kennels.
Triangle Greyhound kept seven of the dogs. More than 20 went to Project Racing Retirement Facility and Adoption Center in Randleman, about 16 went to Greyhound Friends of North Carolina in Oak Ridge, and other dogs went to various foster homes or other rescue groups.
Once the dogs arrived at the various rescue facilities, volunteers began working on them by washing them, giving them flea and tick baths, picking off hundreds of ticks and putting medication on open sores.
"A lot of them needed antibiotic therapy for 14 to 21 days for tick-borne diseases," said Kimberly Jewell, director of the Project Racing kennel.
Her kennel received 24 of the Orange County dogs. "Half of them needed to gain anywhere from eight to 10 pounds," she said.
Others needed more. One was Larry the Lurcher. A Lurcher is a crossbred greyhound and is usually a little shorter and thicker than a purebred greyhound. "Larry was skin and bones," Jewell recalled. "We put 25 pounds on him."
Another dog the kennel took in was Pixie, who weighed 48 pounds when she came to the kennel. "We got her up to 65 pounds," Jewell said.
Bandit gained 17 pounds. "When he and Pixie came in, they were so covered in feces you couldn't even tell what color they were," she said. "Bandit had feces burns on him. All of them we just had to feed them two or three times a day to get their weight back up."
Many of the dogs had terrible teeth that were on the verge of falling out, so they needed extra dental care, and Jewell said she fed them canned pumpkin to help them gain weight.
"We have the Orange County dogs looking as healthy as the rest of the dogs in the kennel," Jewell said.
Nine from her kennel have been adopted so far, and most of the others, along with greyhounds she's received from racing kennels in Florida, are ready for adoption.
Wolfe just got Allison back from a vet in Sanford who has been caring for her.
"When she arrived [from the Wisemans], 75 percent of her hair was gone," Wolfe said. "She looked as if she was the color gray. Now she's got a beautiful black coat. It's soft. It's sleek, and she's full of energy."
Rosie, the dog whose picture appeared in several newspapers after the dogs were seized, is one of the older dogs. She's gained weight and been cleared by a vet and is ready for adoption, according to the kennel's Web site. | | Source: Herald-Sun - July 21, 2005 |
| Posted on Jun 10, 2005 - 7:36AM | A couple is facing criminal charges for animal cruelty after 66 dogs were found in their Cedar Grove home late last month.
Orange County animal control officials sent out a release June 7, stating that, with the support of District Attorney Jim Woodall, they would be filing criminal charges against Robbin and Kenneth Wiseman.
The Wisemans each will face 47 counts of cruelty to animals and one count of operating a kennel without a license.
Woodall said animal cruelty is considered a class one misdemeanor.
Punishment for these charges depends on a person�s past criminal record. Someone with a prior record could face up to 120 days in jail, Woodall said.
According to the June 7 release, veterinarian evaluations showed that 47 of the 66 dogs were severely malnourished and had numerous health problems.
He said all of the remaining dogs, save for one cocker spaniel, have been sent to various foster and rescue homes. Five had to be put down.
�These dogs needed long-term care, and it would be better for them to be in foster homes,� he stated.
The Wisemans are due to appear in court July 21. | | Source: dailytarheel.com - une 9, 2005 |
| Posted on Jun 4, 2005 - 2:08PM | Orange County's district attorney has yet to make a final decision on whether to file charges against a couple accused of animal cruelty.
District Attorney Jim Woodall said that because of the volume of evidence to be reviewed and the varying conditions of the dogs, he would wait before filing any charges, the Orange County Animal Control said in a statement Friday.
Investigators said they found the animals living in unclean living conditions and that many of them appeared to be undernourished and suffering from visible skin lesions.
Most of the animals have been placed in rescue groups or foster homes. Some had to be euthanized. The Wisemans did not have permits to keep so many dogs. | | Source: WRAL - June 3, 2005 |
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