Pet-Abuse.Com - Animal Abuse Case Details: Hoarding - 44 dogs abandoned

Hoarding - 44 dogs abandoned
Rock, WI (US)

Incident Date: Thursday, Aug 31, 2006
County: Richland
Local Map: available
Disposition: Convicted
Case Images: 1 files available

Abusers/Suspects:
» Michelle K. Talley
» Jerry F. Talley, Jr

Case Updates: 5 update(s) available

Case ID: 9654

Classification: Hoarding

Animal: dog (non pit-bull)

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Suspect was in animal welfare field

Summer 2006, workers in contamination suits and respirators shoveled dog feces and trash from an abandoned Beloit house.

As the workers filled two Dumpsters and a truck with feces, garbage, and ruined furniture-including a piano-the house's former residents apparently were wrecking a second house in Rock Township.

The couple, Michelle and Jerry Talley, earlier this month were arrested on misdemeanor charges of failing to care for their animals after 44 Siberian huskies were rescued from the house at 3021 S. County D.

In 2005, they left a house at 1823 Ritsher St. in Beloit that allegedly was in similar condition to the house they are accused of trashing on County D.

The Rock County Humane Society took the 44 dogs rescued in September and cleaned, fed and cared for them. On Wednesday, four dogs still were waiting for homes.

The Talleys' reason for keeping 44 dogs in the County D house is unclear. But the term "animal hoarding" is used when people keep so many animals that they no longer can care for them or themselves.

One expert said animal hoarders almost always move on and do the same thing-neglecting more animals, endangering people's health and creating economic havoc.

The broker who handled the Beloit house after the couple defaulted on their loan finds it unbelievable that the Talleys moved on to apparently do the same thing to a different house.

Belinda Peck, who owns the Rock Township house with her husband, Richard, had begun eviction proceedings against the Talleys for missed payments when the Pecks heard that 44 dogs were living on the property.

The Pecks, who live in Janesville, thought they had sold the house to the Talleys on a land contract, but they recently discovered that the private agreement was invalid.

"The house is gone,'' Peck said this week.

Peck said she peeked in the window but didn't have the stomach to go inside.

"It's destroyed," she said.

The Pecks don't believe their insurance will cover the damage.

Peck doesn't believe the Talleys live in the home any longer.

The Talleys moved to the County D house from the house on Ritsher Street in Beloit in summer or fall 2005.

Beloit and county officials apparently had been unaware of the condition of the house on Ritsher Street.

But at least one Beloit neighbor, who did not want to be named because he fears retribution, said the house's condition was obvious. The smell was so bad that he couldn't sit outside, he said.

"She (Michelle Talley) started accumulating what she called her 'babies,''' the neighbor said this week about Michelle Talley's dogs.

"It was a mess. Then it started stinking � She just started accumulating more and more dogs," the neighbor said.

At least some of those dogs were Siberian huskies.

Beloit police reports about the address do not mention the owners having too many dogs or an abundance of dog waste.

The neighbor said he called Beloit's code department and the Rock County Humane Society.

Tom Clippert, director of Beloit's housing services, said complaints about animals usually are referred to the humane society.

Chris Konetski, executive director of the humane society, said she could find nothing in her files about the Ritsher Street home. If the society had investigated, a report would have been written only if a worker saw signs of animal neglect or abuse, she said,

A search warrant is needed to enter a private home, and those who want to enter must justify the need to a judge.

After the Talleys left the Beloit house, the house went into foreclosure and eventually became the property of the mortgage company, said Marc Bulandr, the broker hired by the company.

A Beloit code inspector went to the house in June 2006 after the Rock County Health Department said it received a complaint about the smell and dog feces in the yard.

The inspector contacted Bulandr, who hired a cleaning company.

"It was terrible,'' Bulandr said of the house's condition.

"The house literally on the inside had to be gutted.''

Employees of Paschall Home Solutions near Burlington wore respirators and suits to protect themselves and clean the house, said Darrell Paschall, the company's owner.

The workers still got headaches.

Paschall said the workers found urine and feces a few inches thick on every floor. It was mixed with trash, personal belongings and torn mattresses.

"It was top to bottom, front to back. Every room was destroyed by the dogs, eating everything.''

The dogs ate the kitchen, he said.

"Everything had to be trashed.''

"The (house) was probably the most unhealthy place I've ever been in.''

Paschall figures he's been in more than 1,000 homes in 10 years.

The cleanup cost $5,000. The house once valued at $100,000 eventually sold for about $20,000, Bulandr said.

The house on County D was in similar condition, sheriff's department and humane society officials said.

Belinda Peck said a humane society official told her that she should bulldoze the house.

"We're out every way we can be out. We have nothing," Peck said.

"We can't even put it on the market to sell it.

"These people are going around scamming people � '' Peck alleged of the Talleys. "They belong in prison.''

Michelle Talley said someone else damaged the Beloit house after she and her husband moved out. She declined further comment.

Police records, however, show the power was shut off in the Beloit house in December 2005 for nonpayment of the bill. The neighbor said he saw nobody living in the Ritsher Street house after the Talleys moved.

Tim Banwell, Rock County Health Department environmental health director, said he has contacted the town of Rock and offered help at the County D house.

The town is responsible for enforcing building and zoning codes. The town president could not be reached, so plans for the house are unknown.

The Talleys' court date is Monday, Oct. 16.

Case Updates

Rock County officials have sued to fetch $4,106 from the former owners of 44 Siberian huskies rescued from squalor, thirst and neglect at a private residence in September.

The Rock County Humane Society sent a bill - an amount considerably less than total costs, rescue officials said - to the county for impoundment, board, health care and emergency staffing in the case.

Since the county requested the confiscation and the case resulted in convictions last month of Jerome and Michelle Talley, the county can sue the Talleys for payment, said Jerry Long, deputy corporation counsel for the county.

"If the sheriff orders the animals taken into custody because they are neglected or abused, the animals are placed with the humane society and they send a bill to Rock County for payment," said Long.

Of the 44 dogs impounded, 43 were eventually adopted and one was euthanized, said society executive director Chris Konetski. When the dogs were seized, the owners signed away their rights to the dogs, which made it possible for a quick rescue and placement effort, Konetski said.

However, the $4,106 bill covers only the initial service call and impoundment fees, and for boarding two dogs the couple at first said they wanted to keep, but later gave up.

Konetski said it is only in the past three years that the society and the county worked out an agreement for payment of the costs of taking care of confiscated animals.

"It was a problem; we got beat up pretty bad before. Now there is a better understanding of how the county can recoup its costs," Konetski said.

The society also was quick to make its financial needs known in court, appearing in October to request a bond be paid by the couple if they wanted to keep two dogs for themselves. As it happened, said Konetski, they changed their minds and thus the last two dogs were put up for adoption.

The Talleys' sentences included a order not to own or train any animals for five years. The two pleaded guilty to obstructing officers and animal neglect. Michelle Talley was placed on two years' probation and ordered to get psychological treatment. Jerry Talley was fined $1,728.

Konetski, who said dog- adopters paid a $100 fee to cover veterinary expenses, said the society was fortunate the animals involved were easily adoptable and attractive to rescue groups.

"And other than (the dogs) being dirty and stinky and filthy, they were good natured and that helped," Konetski said. "Had they been pit bulls, it might not have been that successful."

That was a reference to an ongoing legal battle in Dane County, where the confiscation of 47 pit bulls in a drug raid in June left the Dane County Humane Society in the position of being the caregiver without ownership. That leaves out adoption of the good dogs and euthanization of bad ones and builds up a huge budget problem.

A settlement returning nine dogs to their owner and transferring 38 to the society, in exchange for dropping of dog- fighting charges, remains unconfirmed, society officials said Tuesday.

Source: Wisconsin State Journal - March 8, 2007
Update posted on Mar 12, 2007 - 3:32AM

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Michelle Talley, 43, of the 3000 block of S. Afton Road, Janesville, was sentenced to two years probation. Jerry Talley Jr., 46, of the 3000 block of S. Afton Road, Janesville, was fined $1,500. Each pleaded guilty to improper animal shelter, intentional failure to provide food for animals and obstructing an officer. The charge of improper animal sanitation, a forfeiture, was dropped against them as part of a plea agreement.

The Rock County Sheriff's Department found the dogs in Michelle Talley's home at 3021 S. County Highway D in the Town of Rock on Sept. 18. According to police reports the dogs were found in very poor condition, left to live in their own urine and feces without food or water.

Before sentencing, Michelle Talley told the judge through tears, �I never imagined that I would end up in criminal court when I started with the dogs. My pathway to this court was truly paved with good intentions, not only for the dogs but for my family.�

She explained that she had found out about the dogs and wanted to help them, spending more than $12,000 to buy them.

�That's why I purchased five acres of land. So I had the space to fence in to occupy these animals,� she said. She claims to have spent $53,000 on the land and home.

But then in April, she and her mother both became ill. This gave her less time to care for the 44 dogs. The dogs are very active and energetic, she explained.

�I realize things got out of control, but my intentions were well, very well,� she said. �I feel horrible. I only hope everyone of them is finding a good home.�

She said she now realizes that she should have sold the dogs. Michelle Talley admitted she was very particular about potential buyers because the dogs needed an open space to live in with people who could keep up with them.

She said purchasing the dogs was her own doing and Jerry Talley Jr. came into the picture in April to help.

�Ultimately, I guess it's kind of kicking him in the butt and all I can do is apologize,� she said.

The Talleys have been divorced for five years.

�When her mother took ill, I was just trying to help them out,� he said.

But he worked seven days a week, 10 to 12 hours a day.

�I did the best I could do with the time I had,� he said.

Rock County Circuit Court Judge James P. Daley said during his ruling on Jerry Talley's sentencing he fined him instead of giving him probation because he did not aid Michelle Talley in purchasing the dogs. Fining Jerry Talley instead of putting him on probation allows him to leave the state, which he would like to do for employment purposes. A person on probation in Wisconsin must stay in the state.

Daley also told the Talleys they are �prohibited from owning, possessing, training any species of animals for five years.�

All except one of the 44 dogs seized from the Talleys lived despite poor health.

The Rock County Humane Society took 17 dogs.

�All the ones left in our care have been placed,� said Chris Konetski, executive director of the humane society.

Furry Bottoms in Plymouth, Wis., took in seven dogs. One dog named Mik� had five puppies, five days after she was rescued. No one realized she was pregnant because she was so thin, said Lisa Young, founder of Furry Bottoms.

All the dogs have been adopted except two, Mik� and Necedah, a Siberian Huskie and German Shepherd mix. Young said they are both living with a foster family in Milwaukee.

For information on adopting either dog call 920-245-2945 or visit www.furrybottomsrescue.petfinder.com. To adopt the dogs, knowledge of the Siberian Huskie breed is needed as well as ownership of a large fenced in space.

Mik�'s foster family, Young said, trained her to a ring a bell at the door when she needs to use the bathroom.

Free Spirit Siberian Huskie in Harvard, Ill., took in 17 dogs.

Source: Beloit Daily News - Feb 16, 2007
Update posted on Feb 18, 2007 - 12:57PM

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Michelle Talley and her ex-husband, Jerry Fred Talley Jr., were sentenced Thursday after each pleaded guilty to three misdemeanors: party to the crimes of failure to provide proper shelter for animals, failure to provide proper food and drink to animals and obstructing.

Michelle was sentenced to two years probation with an order requiring psychological treatment.

Jerry was fined $1,500-$500 on each misdemeanor count-and ordered to pay court costs for a total penalty of $1,728.

Both were banned from owning or training any animals for five years.

Each could have been sentenced to 27 months in jail and fined $30,000, the combined maximum penalties for the three misdemeanors.

The only charge dropped in a plea agreement was the least brought against each of them: failure to provide proper sanitation. That is a civil offense and carries only a fine as a penalty.

The only sentence recommendation the prosecution and defense agreed upon was the five-year ban on owning or training animals.

A sobbing Michelle Talley told Judge James Daley on Thursday:

"My pathway to this court was paved with good intentions. When I got wind of these puppy mills, I went and I bought them, these puppies, these litters.

"I'd go, and I couldn't just say I'd buy this one or that one, so I'd buy all 15. My intentions were well."

Talley wound up with 44 Siberian huskies in what Rock County sheriff's deputies described as deplorable conditions at her home on South Afton Road in Janesville.

Deputies described a house and garage where floors were caked with feces and the stench of feces and urine was overwhelming. Deputies said they found no food and little water for the animals, according to the criminal complaint against Talley.

Talley maintained she wasn't running a puppy mill but was rescuing huskies from puppy mills at a cost of more than $12,000 just to buy the dogs, let alone feed them, which she said she dutifully did.

Assistant district attorney Scott Dirks argued for probation for both Talleys.

Attorney Marc McCrory, who defended only Michelle Talley, argued for only a fine for his client. Jerry Talley represented himself.

"A fine is highly unlikely to keep this kind of thing from happening again," Dirks said. "Common sense should tell us that anyone who collects animals to the extent these people did has something psychologically wrong with them."

Research shows that people who have the psychological condition to hoard animals are likely to repeat the behavior, and only the continual checking of probation could ensure the Talleys don't return to animal-hoarding. Dirks said.

McCrory countered that the "no-ownership" ban should stop Michelle from hoarding animals, but Daley asked how that could be enforced outside Wisconsin. Both Talleys expressed a desire to relocate, and Daley noted probation or court orders for misdemeanor convictions don't transfer state to state.

Jerry Talley told the judge that he came to help his ex-wife after she and her mother became seriously ill. When he arrived, Michelle already had 44 huskies, he said.

He told deputies that conditions in the house were so bad that he slept outside in a tent if the weather was good, according to the criminal complaint.

Talley also told Daley that his job as a traveling millwright requires working out of Wisconsin.

In imposing the different sentences, Daley said:

"It appears all the dogs were in place when Mr. Talley came to help his ex-wife and mother-in-law. I think the psychological condition is in place for Mrs. Talley but not for Mr. Talley.

"Mrs. Talley was responsible for creating the situation."

Source: Gazette Xtra - Feb 16, 2007
Update posted on Feb 16, 2007 - 4:44PM

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The couple charged with the neglect of 44 Siberian huskies pled not guilty Wednesday afternoon in Rock County Circuit Court.

Michelle Talley, 42, and Jerry Talley Jr., 46, of the 3000 block of S. Afton Road, Janesville appeared in court without an attorney, although they said in court they retained Mark McCurry to represent them.

The Talleys each have been charged with improper animal shelter, party to a crime; not providing proper food and drink to confined animals, party to a crime and obstructing an officer. Each charge is a Class A misdemeanor and carries a fine of up to $10,000 and up to nine months in jail. They also were charged with improper shelter of animals, sanitation standards, party to a crime, which carries a fine of up to $500.

Members of the Wisconsin Animal Education Network attended the court appearance wearing bright yellow T-shirts that read �Prosecute Animal Abusers.�

WAEN Vice President Allegra Rosenberg said this case is going to be delayed by the Talleys' many antics.

�With the condition of the dogs, we want to see jail time,� she said.

They should also never be able to have animals under their care, Rosenberg added.

�I wanted to see them plead guilty, I wanted to see this done,� said WAEN President Mary Ann Sevom. �I'm so nervous about this, the way the courts treat animal cases - such a travesty.�

All but three of the 44 dogs have been adopted. According to Rock County Humane Society Executive Director Chris Konetski, one dog had to be euthanized.

The dog had a neurological disorder and may have had rabies. Although, tests done after it's death concluded the dog did not have the violent disease.

When the humane society came to take the dogs on Sept. 18, the Talleys only signed over 41 of the 44 dogs. The humane society still has two dogs the Talleys want back.

A condition of the Talleys' bond prohibits them from having animals under their care.

Konetski said the humane society will not give up the dogs easily.

�We will fight against it,� she said.

According to court records, Rock County is suing the Talleys for costs accrued over the seizure of the dogs.

A petition the court received Oct. 20 requests the Talleys pay $4,106.40. This sum increases each day by $20 to cover the lodging and care of the two remaining dogs.

The $4,106.40 covers the impounding and board of 44 dogs, the boarding of the two dogs not adopted, the veterinary care and euthanization of one dog, the general veterinary care of all the dogs and emergency staffing.

A hearing is set for 9:30 a.m. Nov. 16 at the courthouse before Judge John W. Roethe.

Source: Beloit Daily News - Oct 26, 2006
Update posted on Oct 29, 2006 - 3:17PM

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A man accused of neglecting more than 40 Siberian huskies told a Rock County sheriff's deputy that conditions in his home had gotten so bad because of all the dogs that he slept outside in a tent during good weather, according to the criminal complaint against him.

Jerry F. Talley Jr., 46, and ex-wife Michelle K. Talley, 42, each face a jail term of up to 27 months and a maximum fine of $30,500.

In addition, Rock County will seek to force the Talleys, both of 3021 S. Afton Road, Janesville, to pay more than $4,000 for the care of the dogs at the Rock County Humane Society.

The Talleys appeared in court Monday for initial appearances, which were continued until 1 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 25. Michelle described Jerry as her ex-husband at the hearing.

Each was charged with obstructing, a misdemeanor, and being party to the misdemeanor crimes of failing to provide proper shelter and failing to provide food and drink. Each of the misdemeanors carries a maximum penalty of nine months in jail and a $10,000 fine.

In addition, each Talley was charged with party to the crime of failing to provide minimum sanitation for the dogs, which carries a maximum fine of $500.

Signature bonds of $1,500 each were set for the Talleys. A condition of their bonds is that neither possess an animal until the case is resolved.

That condition will mean that two of the huskies will remain in the care of the humane society, which is billing the county for their care.

Forty-four dogs were confiscated from the Talley residence Sept. 18 after authorities investigated a complaint of an excessive number of dogs at the home.

Forty-one of the huskies were adopted or placed quickly, but the Talleys asked that the humane society keep three of the dogs for them, said Jerry Long, Rock County deputy corporation counsel.

If the Talleys are convicted, the court would decide if they are allowed to have animals.

One of the retained huskies showed possible rabies symptoms and had to be euthanized to check for the disease, but the dog was not infected, Long said.

The care bill for all the huskies was more than $4,000 as of Monday, and the bill will mount the longer the humane society keeps the remaining dogs, Long said.

The county will seek to have the Talleys pick up the tab for all the dogs' care, he said.

When a Rock County sheriff's deputy and humane society worker went to the Talley home Sept. 18, they saw six or seven huskies looking through the front window and smelled what eventually became an overwhelming stench of feces and urine, according to the criminal complaints against the Talleys.

At almost every turn through the property, the officials found more dogs.

They found floors in the home, a garage and makeshift kennel covered with feces and urine pools but no food and only stagnant water in bowls set out for the dogs, the criminal complaints allege.

The house had almost no furniture, and Michelle told the deputy she had to remove the furniture because the huskies had soiled or damaged it, according to the complaint.

After 24 dogs were found, the deputy asked Michelle if there were any more and she said, "No." But deputies kept finding more dogs, about 4 to 6 inches of feces on a floor in an unventilated basement room, and Jerry Talley hiding in a bathroom with five more huskies, the complaint charges.

Source: Gazette Xtra - Oct 17, 2006
Update posted on Oct 20, 2006 - 11:18PM

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	BDN Connection - Feb 16, 2007

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Hoarding - 44 dogs abandonedRock, WI (US)

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Hoarding - 44 dogs abandoned
Rock, WI (US)