A Botetourt County woman whose animal neglect conviction prohibits her from having companion animals will be back in district court on Sept 27 after authorities found two cats and two dead dogs at her house in mid-September 2006, authorities said.
In August 2006, Monica Blair Yates, 39, of Botetourt County was found guilty in Botetourt County General District Court of one count of animal neglect. Judge Louis Campbell dismissed an additional 20 counts, and four counts were held under advisement, the Botetourt County Sheriff's Office said in a press release.
Those charges came after authorities found 22 puppies and three dogs crammed into crates soiled with animal waste at Yates' Buckingham Court house, said Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Jill Deegan.
The animals were severely underweight and some suffered respiratory infections and an intestinal infection that causes diarrhea, Deegan said.
Four days after Yates was convicted, a Roanoke pet store told Botetourt County authorities that she tried to adopt a kitten and had been seen with a shopping cart full of dog food and toys, the press release said.
Animal control officers went to Yates' house and could hear a dog barking, Deegan said.
On Sept. 11, Yates was found guilty of contempt of court because the previous conviction prohibited her from having companion animals.
A week later, authorities received a complaint about an odor at Yates' other house on Ridge Crest Drive in Botetourt County.
Authorities discovered two cats and two dead dogs there.
When Botetourt County officers arrested Yates on Sept 21, she was in her vehicle with a dog, the press release said.
She is again charged with contempt of court.
Deegan said Yates will also face six charges of animal cruelty in October, but could not comment on the reason for those charges because the case is open. Case UpdatesA woman convicted of animal cruelty in Botetourt County has pleaded guilty to charges she stole more than one million dollars from clients.
Monica Yates was in federal district court this morning. Yates had faced eight-charges she had taken money from investors during her time as a financial advisor. Federal investigators say she ran a scam paying clients "interest" with the proceeds from new customers.
Today, under a plea agreement, she entered a guilty plea to two of those charges. Yates was convicted last year of animal cruelty after dead puppies were found at her home. | Source: WDBJ - March 28, 2007
Update posted on Mar 28, 2007 - 3:33PM |
A Botetourt woman, convicted of animal cruelty, will now have to come up with money to settle a civil case. Merrill Lynch filed a civil suit against 40-year-old Monica Yates in October.
The suit alleges Yates had used the company's good name to divert more than one million dollars from potential clients' accounts. Judge Bo Trumbo agreed. The judge ruled she is liable. An attorney for Merrill Lynch says the company is working to get clients their money back. They are also working with authorities on a criminal case. | Source: WDBJ - Dec 20, 2006
Update posted on Dec 20, 2006 - 9:29PM |
Today, the first of at least three sentences were handed down to Monica Yates. Yates, who is behind bars, was given additional jail time and fined $1,000 on charges of animal cruelty. Under a plea deal, Yates also faces a suspended jail sentence and probation.
She is due in circuit court tomorrow morning on felony charges. Yates also faces charges that she mis-managed more than $1 million. | Source: WDBJ - Nov 27, 2006
Update posted on Nov 27, 2006 - 9:12PM |
A Botetourt County woman is adding a civil case to a growing list of criminal charges.
The Merrill Lynch corporation has filed suit against 39-year-old Monica Yates.
The corporation says she used the company's good name to divert more than $1.2 million from potential clients' accounts.
Yates was originally arrested and charged with animal cruelty after two dead puppies and several malnourished animals were reportedly found at her home on Ridgecrest Drive.
Just last week, authorities in Roanoke County searched a storage unit and her business at the Lamp Lighter Mall.
They seized computers, documents, and files. | Source: WDBJ - Oct 12, 2006
Update posted on Oct 15, 2006 - 4:19PM |
�The plot thickens,� said Commonwealth's Attorney Jill Deegan on her way out of General District Court Monday.
She was there to participate in a bond hearing for Monica Yates, who had been arrested the week before on contempt charges that stemmed from animal cruelty convictions in August.
About the same time, the Botetourt County grand jury was returning seven felony indictments against the 39-year-old Yates who lives in Steeple Chase subdivision in Cloverdale, and because of those indictments, Yates remains in jail.
Three of the indictments are related to animal cruelty charges, but the other four involve forgery and fraud of nearly $300,000.
Yates was back to General District Court on Monday in hopes of getting out of jail. She was found guilty of animal cruelty in August because she had a number of dogs and cats at her Steeple Chase home that were confined and in bad shape. She was ordered not to have any more animals, but a capias was issued for the Sheriff's Department to pick her up when more dogs and cats were found in a second home she owned. When she was arrested on the contempt charges last week, she also had pets in her vehicle.
Last week her attorney, Deborah Caldwell Bono, asked General District Judge Louis K. Campbell to allow Yates to be at home under home electronic monitoring so she could tend to her young daughter. Last Wednesday, Campbell ordered a psychiatric evaluation for Yates that took place over the weekend. He received the report at the 11 a.m. hearing Monday.
Campbell agreed to let Yates out of jail and allow electronic home monitoring, but that depended on what the grand jury did.
The grand jury returned seven true bills against Yates-three on animal cruelty charges and one each for uttering of a forged check, forgery, unlawfully obtaining money under false pretenses and money laundering.
Sheriff's Department Detective Nelson C. Tolley is investigating the charges involving forgery and money laundering.
One of the indictments cites a forged check for $292,691.45 drawn on the account of an investment client at an investment firm where Yates used to work. The check is allegedly made out to an investments business allegedly operated by Yates. The client is a resident of Botetourt County. | Source: Fincastle Herald - Oct 4, 2006
Update posted on Oct 4, 2006 - 8:41PM |
A Botetourt County woman convicted in the past two months of animal neglect and contempt of court was indicted Monday on seven felony charges that include animal cruelty and money laundering, said Botetourt County Commonwealth's Attorney Joel Branscom.
Monica Blair Yates, 39, was indicted by a Botetourt County grand jury on three counts of animal cruelty and one count each of forgery, uttering, obtaining money by false pretenses and money laundering.
Branscom said the charges unrelated to animals stem from an incident at her job, where she works with investments. He could not comment further because the case is being investigated. But the indictment alleges that Yates forged a check for almost $300,000 made out to MFS Investment Trust.
The animal cruelty charges are related to a series of incidents that began in August.
On Aug. 14, authorities found 22 puppies and three dogs crammed into crates at her home. She was convicted of animal neglect and told not to have companion animals.
Four days after she was convicted, authorities found her in possession of a dog, and she was later convicted of contempt of court.
Then, on Sept. 18, authorities found two cats and two dead dogs at Yates' home.
She again was charged with contempt of court.
At a bond hearing Monday on that charge, a judge said Yates could be released from the Botetourt County Jail on recognizance if she was placed on house arrest.
However, the felony charges against Yates make her ineligible for house arrest, Branscom said. She remained in jail Monday. | Source: Roanoke.Com - Oct 3, 2006
Update posted on Oct 3, 2006 - 7:27AM |
A Botetourt County woman accused of animal cruelty will continue to spend time in jail, even though a judge granted her home detention.
Thirty-nine-year-old Monica Yates was arrested nearly two-weeks ago after deputies reportedly found two-dead puppies at a property on Ridgecrest Drive. A district court judge decided this morning she was eligible for home detention, if she was monitored by her mother and stayed away from the Internet.
Before she could be released she was indicted on seven felony charges including animal cruelty, obtaining money by false pretense, forgery, uttering and money laundering. According the prosecutor, the charges are connected to hundreds of thousand of dollars Yates received in an investment job. | Source: WDBJ - Oct 2, 2006
Update posted on Oct 2, 2006 - 4:46PM |
Monica Yates covers her face as she walks back to jail. Her lawyer tells the court the 40-year-old didn't have so much as a speeding ticket, until last month.
That's when animal control officer W.B. Horton went to Yates' home after a complaint over too many animals and an odor. "She allowed us to come in. Everything was kosher, " he said. Yates did not seem to think anything was wrong. "No, nothing whatsoever until we started seizing the dogs. Then, she got a little upset."
Investigators say Yates ignored a court order that she not own another animal without approval. A bad situation got worse when they found two dead dogs at a vacant home she owned.
Horton says Yates paid a thousand dollars for each puppy, registered dachshunds, poodles and jack russels and kept them, sometimes three or four at a time, in small crates.
In court, prosecutors said Yates was out of control, using the internet to buy dozens of puppies from breeders across the country. The prosecutor urged the judge to leave Yates in jail, the only place they say she can be controlled.
Meanwhile, the defense says Yates is an animal lover and had no criminal intent. Her lawyer asked the judge to offer Yates bond so she could get out of jail, saying Yates' mother would care for her for thirty days and get her the help and medication she needs. The defense says Yates had a series of issues that led to her lack of judgement but Yates wants to get her life back in order.
For now she will sit in the Botetourt County jail until a doctor evaluates her and a judge decides whether she's fit to be free. The judge hopes the mental evaluation will be done this weekend. | Source: News Channel 10 - Sept 27, 2006
Update posted on Sep 27, 2006 - 9:13PM |
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