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Case #13052 Rating: 3.4 out of 5
Puppy mill - 50 to 70 dogs
Lamartine, WI (US)Incident Date: Monday, Dec 17, 2007
County: Fond du Lac
Charges: Misdemeanor
Disposition: Convicted
Defendant/Suspect: JC M. Heiberg
Case Updates: 3 update(s) available
For the second time in two years, a former Fond du Lac resident faces animal neglect charges.
This time, the charges against JC M. Heiberg, 69, occurred after the Fond du Lac County Sheriff's Department busted a suspected puppy mill at her former home, N5456 Townline Road, in the town of Lamartine, on Dec. 17.
Heiberg made an initial court appearance Tuesday in Fond du Lac County Circuit Court on charges of improper animal shelter and obstructing an officer.
A $500 signature bond was ordered in the case, and Heiberg was ordered not to possess or care for any animals.
Following the December 2007 incident, Heiberg moved her animals from her home on Townline Road to Kenosha, where she currently resides, according to Wisconsin Circuit Court Access records.
Fond du Lac County Assistant District Attorney Catherine Block said that if police find Heiberg possessing animals, her bond will be revoked.
"It's like any bond on any file," she said. "We don't have the police force or manpower to go to another county and watch over her."
This is the second time in two years that Heiberg has been charged in Fond du Lac County for not properly caring for her animals.
In December 2005, the Fond du Lac County Sheriff's Department found several malnourished horses and dogs without food or water in a barn at the Townline Road home. They also found manure a foot deep in some areas, according to the criminal complaint.
Animal neglect charges in that case were later dismissed, and Heiberg was given a second chance to care for her animals.
On Dec. 17, 50 to 70 dogs were found in the same barn without water or food, according to the complaint. Several puppies were found kept in children's swimming pools. Two of those puppies were dead, according to the complaint.
Fond du Lac County Sheriff's Department Detective Charles Sosinski reported similar conditions in both incidents, according to the complaint.
According to allegations contained in a Waupun Veterinary Clinic report, in the most recent case, Heiberg was using her home to serve as "an inhumane puppy mill being run with the express desire to produce as many cross-bred puppies as possible in an environment that kept the puppies alive but nothing else."
Case UpdatesA Fond du Lac County jury decided Tuesday afternoon that a 70-year-old woman was not guilty of mistreating up to 70 dogs, which authorities found housed in barns at her former Townline Road home in December 2007.
On a separate misdemeanor charge, J.C. M. Heiberg was found guilty Tuesday of not providing proper shelter for an animal.
Along with finding her not guilty of intentionally mistreating animals, the jury ruled she also was not guilty on two counts of obstructing an officer.
A sentencing hearing has been set for 10 a.m. July 21. Heiberg faces up to nine months in jail for the lone guilty verdict.
As a defense witness, Heiberg took the stand Tuesday morning, explaining to the court that she had a kennel license and was able to house the large number of animals she was keeping at her Townline Road home.
She said she was in the process of moving when authorities showed up on Tuesday, Dec. 18, 2007, to search her residence.
Heiberg said she first started moving her horses and some of her dogs to her new Kenosha home the Friday before that, but made daily trips to the Townline Road home to care for the animals.
"Were the animals fed and watered every day between Friday and Tuesday," defense attorney Brian Mares asked during direct examination.
"Yes," Heiberg answered.
According to a criminal complaint, when authorities from the Fond du Lac County Sheriff's Department arrived at the home on Dec. 18, they found animal waste covering the floors of the barns where the animals were kept, with no food and little water for the dogs. Most of the water was frozen due to freezing temperatures at the time, according to the complaint.
Two puppies were found dead, according to the complaint.
A Waupun Veterinary Clinic report concluded Heiberg was using her home to serve as an inhumane puppy mill in "an environment that kept the puppies alive but nothing else."
Fond du Lac County Assistant District Attorney Jocelyn Jurva called detectives on the case to the stand during the first day of trial Monday. Testimony wrapped up Tuesday with the jury getting the case early in the afternoon.
After about three hours of deliberating, the jury returned with the verdict around 3:45 p.m.
This case is not the first time Heiberg has been charged with neglecting animals. Charges were sought after authorities searched her Townline Road home in December 2005 and found several animals without food or water. One dog was found dead in that instance.
Charges in that case were later dismissed on a prosecutor's motion. | Source: Fond Du Lac Reporter - July 1, 2008
Update posted on Jul 1, 2008 - 7:06PM |
A jury trial in an animal neglect case will get underway today.
A jury will decide if JC M Heiberg, 70, currently of Kenosha, is guilty of running a puppy mill at her former home, N5456 Townline Road in the town of Lamartine, where up to 70 dogs were pulled in December.
Animal neglect charges were filed after authorities stepped in to remove the dogs from barns on her property. The animals were without food and water and two puppies were found dead, according to the complaint.
A veterinary assessing the situation deemed that Heiberg was using her home to serve as an "inhumane puppy mill � in an environment that kept the dogs alive but nothing else," according to the complaint.
It was the second time in two years authorities stepped in to remove animals from Heiberg's home. In December 2005, several malnourished horses and dogs were discovered at the Townline Road home.
Jury selection for the most recent charges got underway this morning in Fond du Lac County Circuit Court with opening arguments from attorneys expected to follow.
The trial is scheduled to go through tomorrow. | Source: Fond du Lac Reporter - June 30, 2008
Update posted on Jun 30, 2008 - 6:27PM |
A total of 48 dogs were seized last week from the Kenosha home of a woman who up until December had operated an alleged puppy mill in the town of Lamartine.
Safe Harbor Humane Society Manager Tonya Howell said the dogs, mostly labradoodles, are getting the veterinary care that they need after being rescued from owner JC Heiberg. Several other animal rescue groups have offered to help the Kenosha shelter and take some of the dogs.
Heiberg, 69, made an initial court appearance in Fond du Lac County Circuit Court on Jan. 29. She was charged with improper animal shelter after Fond du Lac County Sheriff's Department officers discovered 100 dogs on her property on Dec. 17 without food or water and living in deplorable conditions, according to court records. Two puppies were found dead.
At the time, animal rescue groups, including the Wisconsin Puppy Mill Project, took to task the decision by the Fond du Lac County Sheriff's Department to not rescue the dogs. Heiberg was allowed to move her operation to Kenosha, despite a local veterinarian describing the dogs as living in "inhumane conditions."
"Had the Fond du Lac County Sheriff's Department made a couple of calls, this would have been handled a lot faster, and the animals would have suffered a less amount of time, " said Wisconsin Puppy Mill Project Director Eileen Ribbons Rhode.
Detective Charles Sosinski, who specializes in animal cruelty and neglect cases, said people don't understand that industrial-sized dog breeding and selling operations, often called puppy mills, are legal. He said the 100 dogs would have had to be kept as evidence and the department did not have the capability or the funding to care for them.
When the dogs were in Fond du Lac, a veterinarian checked the animals and gave them a clean bill of health, Sosinski said. Legally, law enforcement authorities did not have enough reasons to take her dogs away at that time, he said. | Source: Fond du Lac Reporter - Feb 8, 2008
Update posted on Feb 8, 2008 - 3:03PM |
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