It has been described as the worst case of animal hoarding and abuse in Idaho history: about 430 cats housed in squalid conditions inside a half-dozen dilapidated trailer homes in Bonner County.
Voice of the Animals Camelot Sanctuary was promoted as a no-kill shelter for sick and unwanted cats — but investigators say the unsanitary, cramped conditions were torturous to the animals. The animals were seized in 2006, and operators Cheryl and Edwin Criswell were both charged with 10 counts of animal cruelty, a misdemeanor in Idaho.
“It’s the worst in my memory, that’s for sure,” said Idaho Humane Society Director Jeff Rosenthal, who investigated the compound in 2005. “It’s hard to rate. Is 99 starving horses worse than over 400 starving cats and dead kitties in freezers?”
The Criswells each pleaded guilty to animal cruelty. In January 2007, a judge sentenced them to 180 days in jail on each of the 10 counts — almost five years total — but he suspended all of the jail time, according to court records.
Cheryl Criswell was fined $1,018.50, while Edwin Criswell was fined $1,112.25. It’s been almost five years, and they have yet to pay off the fines. Cheryl still owes about $197, while Edwin owes $174.
Meanwhile, a Montana jury convicted the couple of felony animal cruelty in early September; sentencing will be this month.
The Criswells were found to have more animals than sanctioned by the court while awaiting sentencing and had a trap for catching cats next to their front porch, according to Flathead County officials. They’ve been in and out of jail in the past couple of weeks.
“They say they were helping a neighbor trap cats,” said Paul Charbonneau, the animal control officer who in December rescued more than 100 cats — and the Criswells — from two feces-strewn campers in northern Montana.
“I personally don’t feel that the Criswells should ever own an animal — any animal,” Charbonneau said last week. “This is a repeat offense. This is repetitive behavior, and it’s not going to change.”
Under Montana’s laws, the Criswells face up to two years in prison for their crimes, up to $2,500 in fines and restitution of $100,000 (for food, litter and vet care since the animals were seized), Flathead County Deputy Prosecutor Kenneth Park said Monday. They also owe $350,000 to the Flathead County Animal Shelter, Park said.
Animal advocates in Idaho are watching the outcome of this case closely, as they believe Montana and other states that have felony statues have a broader range of legal tools for dealing with repeat offenders.
“It’s a good compare and contrast,” said Rosenthal, who was called to testify at the Criswell trial in Montana. “It’s on our minds as we look to the (felony animal cruelty) ballot initiative.”
FELONY WOULD TARGET REPEAT OFFENDERS
Idaho and the two Dakotas are the three states without a felony animal cruelty statute. That’s why animal welfare groups across Idaho have banded together as an umbrella group, Idaho 1 of 3.
They want to put the issue to Idaho voters next year and need more than 47,000 valid signatures by April 30 to get their initiative on the ballot; they’re trying to collect 60,000.
“What we’re after is these repeat offenders,” said Idaho 1 of 3 organizer Virginia Hemingway.
“It just goes on and on and on because nothing happens because it’s a misdemeanor,” Hemingway said. “That’s why we want to make the third conviction a felony.”
Hemingway declined to say how many signatures had been gathered so far. The initiative has spurred the Idaho Cattle Association — long wary of laws that might affect ranching and agriculture — to draft an animal cruelty bill in 2012, so they can “control the outcome of the bill,” according to an association newsletter obtained this summer by The Associated Press.
Under the law proposed by Idaho 1 of 3, the third offense in a 15-year period would be a felony, carrying a minimum of six months and maximum of three years in prison and a $9,000 fine. Fines for the first two misdemeanors would be higher than they are now: $400 for first offense (instead of $100) and $600 for second (instead of $200).
Hemingway said the mandatory minimum is needed because judges rarely give animal abusers — even large-scale and repeat violators — jail or prison time.
As an example, Hemingway pointed to the case of a Bannock County woman who had more than 15 animal-related charges over 25 years before she was sent to jail in 2007.
Sharon Lish Lake was sentenced to 170 days in the county jail after investigators found 60 horses in “questionable condition” on her ranch, according to an October 2007 article in the Idaho State Journal.
The sentence wasn’t imposed until after Lake violated her probation for a conviction in 2005.
MOVING ACROSS STATE LINES
Serial animal abusers sometimes escape scrutiny by moving.
After their convictions in Bonner County, the Criswells moved north to Boundary County. Their growing collection of cats raised some eyebrows there, but they soon moved on to Montana.
In another case, Barbara Erickson was convicted of animal abuse on both sides of the Idaho-Oregon border, first in Midvale in 1996.
In 2003, investigators seized more than 500 dogs from her home in Malheur County, Ore. Erickson pleaded guilty to 552 counts of animal neglect in the second degree, and one count of criminal mischief.
She was sentenced to 15 days in jail (credited for time served) and 60 months of supervised probation. She was required to undergo therapy and limited to having two neutered dogs during her probation.
Even when officials in neighboring states communicate well, it’s difficult to prevent abuse.
In 2008, Clark County, Wash., animal control officials notified the Idaho State Department of Agriculture about a Washington man and woman charged with animal neglect who were moving to Middleton, according to a report by the ag department.
An investigator determined that Herbert (Warren) Hultz and Janene Martin had failed to obtain required health certificates or equine anemia testing for two dozen horses they transported. They were charged with misdemeanors for bringing the livestock without a health certificate. Hultz was fined $650; he has paid just $100. Debt collections failed, so the state is going after the money through income tax withholding, according to court records.
Martin was also fined $650. She failed to pay, and the case was sent to collections last year.
In January, Hultz and Martin made news in the Treasure Valley, when investigators seized 80 animals, including sheep, goats, llamas and pigs, from the ranch where they were living in Payette County. The condition of the animals, many emaciated and dehydrated, was described as deplorable. Four animals were euthanized; at least one later died.
Payette County Prosecutor Anne Marie Kelso did not respond to calls and an email seeking information on the case.
Martin was charged with seven counts of animal cruelty and five counts of permitting animals to go without care. In May, she pleaded guilty to animal cruelty and permitting animals to go without care, according to court records. She was sentenced to 360 days in jail (all but 10 days were suspended), fined $550 and put on supervised probation for 2 years. She also was ordered to pay restitution of $6,094.
Hultz was charged with six counts of animal cruelty and three counts of permitting animals to go without care.
A few days before a trial in July, Hultz pleaded guilty. He was scheduled to be sentenced in August, but the sentencing was postponed.
A third person living at the ranch, Robert Fitch Wilson, was charged with one count of permitting animals to go without care. He was sentenced to 180 days in jail, all suspended, and fined $664.
TREATMENT FOR MENTAL HEALTH ISSUES
One problem for the justice system has been that animal hoarding has been little understood.
Bonner County Prosecutor Louis Marshall said he doesn’t believe the Criswells ever intended to harm the animals in their care.
“They weren’t trying to be cruel. … She had serious mental issues. They both did,” Marshall said Monday.
He said the support for no-kill shelters in North Idaho contributed to people dumping unwanted animals, including those that were sick and diseased, on the Criswells.
For the first time ever, hoarding will be included next year in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Rosenthal said.
“That’s a huge step forward for us,” he said.
Lisa Kauffman, Idaho state director for the Humane Society of the United States, said the proposed six-month mandatory minimum in prison for felony animal cruelty would benefit some animal abusers, particularly hoarders, because they can get treatment for psychological issues.
“If they go to prison, they get that counseling,” Kauffman said.
She said those convicted of misdemeanors are told by judges that they must get counseling, but many don’t follow through. Sometimes it’s because they are mandated to pay, but don’t have the money.
SAVING THE CATS, AND THE CRISWELLS
It was Christmas Eve when Charbonneau, the Flathead County animal control officer, went out to the Criswells’ camper trailers on a snowbound road north of Marion, Mont.
“Paul saved their lives,” said Park, the deputy prosecutor. “They got to the point they were feeding their cats instead of themselves. Cheryl was 20 pounds underweight. She weighed 80 to 85 pounds.”
Park said feces lay 6 inches deep on the floors of the two 15-foot trailers where the Criswells were living with the cats.
Park hasn’t decided yet if he will ask for jail time for the couple.
“I think they’re going to get a whole bunch of probation with counseling,” he said. “They’ve never been forced to do any counseling for hoarding.”
He said part of their probation will be to resolve their legal issues in Idaho. Bonner County has a warrant for Edwin Criswell’s arrest.
Marshall, the Bonner County prosecutor, said the Criswells won’t be doing the suspended jail time from their 2006 sentence because the two-year probation expired before the Montana charges occurred.
Park said Cheryl Criswell is on Medicaid and is seeing a therapist, though not necessarily talking about her issues with animals.
“This had to be the most frustrating trial ever,” Park said. “I’ve never in my life seen anybody that absolutely refuses to take responsibility for their actions like these two.”
Katy Moeller: 377-6413
