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Case #7991 Rating: 4.0 out of 5
Hoarding - 44 animals seized
Woodbridge, NJ (US)Incident Date: Wednesday, Apr 5, 2006
County: Middlesex
Disposition: Convicted
Defendant/Suspect: Darlene S. Armstrong
Case Updates: 2 update(s) available
An anonymous letter from Baton Rouge, La., to the township Health Department alerted police and animal control officers to the deplorable living conditions of dozens of animals in an Amboy Avenue home.
Darlene S. Armstrong, 50, faces 61 charges of animal cruelty, according to Officer Al Peterson of the New Jersey Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. Authorities said they removed 30 cats and one dog during two visits to the home.
Peterson inspected the home at 524 Amboy Ave. for the first time on March 8 based on the warning from Baton Rouge and on neighbors' complaints about stench.
He seized 14 cats from the home, police said. Woodbridge has a limit of five dogs and five cats per household, Peterson said.
"The others couldn't be trapped," Peterson said. "We took out what we could."
The 14 cats were brought to the Central Jersey Animal Hospital in Iselin. He said 11 had to be euthanized because they were so sick from the unhealthy living conditions. The animals were emaciated and dehydrated and caked with dried feces, said Matt Stanton, spokesman for the NJSPCA.
A total of 17 charges of animal cruelty were lodged against Armstong as a result of the March 8 incident.
Police and animal control officers returned to Armstrong's home at 8 a.m. April 5 with a court order to seize the remaining animals and to arrest Armstrong on three contempt of court warrants from Woodbridge.
One warrant charged her with failing to license her animals; one charged that she had an excessive number of animals. The third charge accused her of wrongful impersonation and theft by deception. In that case, Armstrong was charged with stealing checks from her son's girlfriend and cashing them, police said.
Police said they saw Armstrong through the window, sitting at a kitchen table. When police knocked at the door, which police said was ajar, they saw Armstrong run through the house and go upstairs.
Police found Armstrong upstairs, crammed into a tiny bedroom closet, and officers had to wiggle her out because she became wedged. She was taken to the Middlesex County Adult Correction Center in North Brunswick on the 17 initial charges of animal cruelty and the outstanding warrants for her arrest.
Officers found 16 more cats and a dog in the house, and the animals were taken to the Central Jersey Animal Hospital.
Peterson described conditions in the home as "deplorable." He said the odor was intense and the home was filled with flies and fleas.
"There was feces and urine on every square inch of the floor, from the front of the house to the back and up the stairs. It staggered the imagination," Peterson said.
Stanton said the NJSPCA will issue 44 additional animal cruelty charges against Armstrong - one civil and one criminal charge for each animal. The charges are for failure to provide necessary sustainence - food, water, shelter and veterinary care.
Case UpdatesOn July 28 2011, NJSPCA Sgt. Al Peterson and the attorney representing Darlene Armstrong formulated a plea agreement to resolve the case and its impending trial. Armstrong appeared before Woodbridge Municipal Court Judge Morse via video from the correctional facility and a trial was held.
Darlene Armstrong was convicted of 7 criminal counts of Deprive of Necessary Sustenance under 4:22-17a1 and fined $3500., with additional court costs, $250. in NJSPCA restitution, and assessed an additional penalty of a lifetime ban on animal ownership (care, custody, control or ownership), which was entered as a court order to prevent animals from being harmed by the defendant, Darlene Armstrong, now a convicted animal abuser.
Judge Morse allowed Armstrong, now age 55, to be released in her own recognizance from the Middlesex County Correctional Center with the promise that she would commit and adhere to her schedule of paying her fines and restitution to the NJSPCA, would follow the terms of the animal ownership ban, and would appear her scheduled court dates in order to adjudicate all remaining charges. | Source: njspca.org - Jul 28, 2011
Update posted on Aug 25, 2011 - 11:09PM |
A local woman is due to appear in Woodbridge municipal court on May 15 to answer numerous charges of animal cruelty and neglect.
Authorities arrested Darlene S. Armstrong, 50, on April 5, at her rented Amboy Avenue home, and removed 33 cats and one dog.
The three-bedroom house, which Armstrong and her husband rented from John Vrtaric, the municipal Republican chairman, was in "deplorable" condition, said Woodbridge police detective Bruce Chester, who led the search of the residence.
Armstrong is free after posting bail in the amount of $2,500. Her number is unlisted, and she could not be reached for comment.
Armstrong has been assigned a public defender, James Durek, to represent her. Durek could not be reached by press time.
Chester said he had to throw away the clothes he wore during the search.
"I've been a cop a long time, and it was one of the worst houses I have ever seen in my career," said Chester, a 35-year veteran of the police force.
"It was just horrible," he said. "It was just a deplorable condition. The animals were undernourished and weren't fed, eating their own feces, and there were feces all over the house on the couch and on the tables, you name it."
Woodbridge health department official Dennis Green said some of the animals were in "very bad shape."
"The ones that are in good shape and are healthy we are going to put up for adoption," he said.
In March, the township filed charges against Armstrong for keeping an unfit and unsafe building, exceeding the number of cats she was allowed to own, and not registering her animals with the township.
On April 3, the New Jersey Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals charged Armstrong with 14 counts of depriving an animal of necessary sustenance.
The SPCA followed up a week later with 20 additional counts of failing to provide necessary sustenance and 35 counts of failing to provide proper shelter and veterinary care.
"I understand her husband, Frank, called the police when he could not find her," said Vrtaric. "An officer came and saw a door open on the side of the building. They entered the house and saw the mess. That's when they called animal control in March."
Her son, Damian Armstrong, 22, was also found sleeping in the house by police, but was not charged.
Chester spotted Armstrong in the kitchen the day the house was raided.
"As soon as I see her, I have the right to enter the house," he said. "The side door was ajar, and I went in. The woman then ran through the house and went upstairs. When I got up into the bedroom, she already had the door shut."
Chester and Woodbridge Police Officer Aimee Rusak gained entry to the room, and found a partially dressed Armstrong hiding in a closet, he said.
"I [saw] a cat sniffing around the closet, which led me to believe she was in the closet, and as soon as I opened the door I could see ... a large woman," he said. "She was then allowed to get dressed with the female officer."
Chester said he was shocked by the condition of the home.
"The house itself is a wreck, and it looked like it hadn't been cleaned in 10 years," Chester said. "The conditions were just unbelievable."
Vrtaric said he first heard of a problem with the house in an anonymous letter sent to him from Baton Rouge, La., a year ago.
"I suspect it might have been from her sister since I believe she had gone there to see her," he said. "At that point I forwarded it to animal control, and that's when they started to investigate."
Nothing out of the ordinary was found at that time, Vrtaric said.
"They talked to the woman, and they found seven cats and a dog in good shape," Vrtaric said. "But they only went into the living room, not the rest of the house. Not long after that when I was walking by near the property, I could smell the cats. At that time, I had asked her to do something about it."
Vrtaric said he had no idea how bad conditions were in the house. He allowed Armstrong to remain there out of sympathy for her situation, he said.
"I've known her husband, Frank, for 15 years, but he has been sick for the last two years," Vrtaric said. "He worked for me all those years, and I knew he was broke, and I just couldn't do it. I couldn't throw them out."
Vrtaric said he hasn't been inside the house in several years.
"I haven't seen it, but I've heard it's terrible," he said. "Someone who works for me saw Armstrong back in the house. I now have to get a court order to get her evicted."
Vrtaric said he is also attempting to collect a year's worth of unpaid rent. | Source: The Sentinel - April 20, 2006
Update posted on Apr 21, 2006 - 3:52PM |
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