Misc. citations Sterling, CO (US) Incident Date: Sunday, Jan 22, 2006 County: Logan Local Map: available Disposition: Alleged Alleged: Bertha M. Morales

Case ID: 7198 Classification: Unclassified Animal: dog (non pit-bull) View more cases in CO (US) Login to Watch this Case

Trial was ordered for a woman cited in violation of several city dog ordinances, including a ticket for too many household pets after her four puppies were discovered.

Bertha M. Morales, whose spoke through a court-appointed Spanish translator, told Municipal Judge Jay Brammer that her client would plead guilty to one charge. But Morales, standing beside a courtroom microphone, offered Brammer an explanation about trying to surrender the four puppies when an animal warden ticketed her Jan. 22. The incident occurred at her home in a trailer park in south Sterling.

With her hesitation, the judge entered an innocent plea for this count. He warned Morales she could be fined $999.

Morales risks equally stiff penalties for eight counts; each for two other relatively more serious allegations that Brammer also explained to the women. She has been charged for a dog at large and a vicious dog that apparently was blamed for killing a cat. She denied both of these accusations.

Fines could reach $9,000 for just three of the top counts for the local motel housekeeper, whose teenage daughter explained they tried adopting the litter mates before police and an animal warden got involved.

"The warden wouldn't take the dogs," Morales countered through her translator, who declined comment later in the hallway. But the defendant's teenage daughter, reached at home, explained that the family asked animal control workers to take the four puppies.

"We called the dog pound because we didn't want them," said Karina Morales, a Sterling High sophomore. "She (the warden) couldn't take them because they were too little," she said her mom and she were informed. "We told her it's not like we could put them in the trash," she recalled their desperation.

Her mom referred to that comment during arraignment proceedings.

"She (the mother dog) just had the puppies, and the warden told her she couldn't just put them in the trash," the translator said Morales testified.

Eventually the litter and its German shepherd mix mother were seized and taken to the city dog shelter, the daughter added. They were only several months old.

The age of dogs in such complaints, a key element in the city's code for kennels, could be crucial question during Morales's trial. The judge, citing this ordinance, referred to its limit of three dogs per household.

It governs kennels allowed only in industrial zones, and sets the floor at four dogs that must be older than 4 months.

Joe Kiolbasa, city manager, referring to the block in question, noted this area is zoned residential and therefore does not fit the code's broader kennel limits.

The defendant's English-speaking daughter defended their pet, and said it was a Marigold Drive neighbor who complained to police when his dead cat was discovered. The mutt was blamed and that led to the viscous dog ticket, she explained.

But she also said the cat died a day after her dog had returned home.

"When he saw my dog out and the dead cat, he blamed my dog," the teen said of the feline's owner. "She didn't kill the cat because it wasn't out very long, and because the cat died Saturday."

The animal office also issued a fourth ticket to Morales for not vaccinating her dog, her daughter mentioned. She maintained the dog had already been inoculated elsewhere, but shot records were lost during their move.

"When we got ticketed, they took the puppies," she said. "They told me and mom we couldn't pick her up until after court," she added.

A court clerk and Morales agreed on a trial date for March 15.

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