🚀 go-pugleaf

Edson Freeman (efreeman@infinet.com) wrote to all:

>>    Please take a few moments to read this, (or visit 
>>    http://www.infinet.com/~efreeman/savemomo/ ).  
>>    If you don't feel you can help, at least take an important lesson 
>>    from this sad story.  Thanks for your time.
>>                                              
>>        Akron, OH 44309-2557

>>    or e-mail efreeman@infinet.com
>>      _________________________________________________________________
>>    
Sad, tho this is one I found a while back too that has been published, 
this was the conclusion of the case.

This month  (some time ago actually) we shine the spotlight on one of
the worst cases of animal crime in the states' history
Vickie Rene Kittles, also known as Susan Dietrich, was convicted on
42 counts of Animal Neglect in  February 1995 after five weeks of
trial, months of delay, and years of suffering for the animals she
claimed to love.  Kittles has a history of such incidents and is likely to
begin the same destructive cycle all over again after she completes
her 7-month sentence.
District Attorney  and Prosecutor in charge of Kittles' case tells the
story.

The case concluded what I called the world's longest dental
appointment without anesthisia.  Kittles was able to drag the case out
almost two years through endless manipulation of people and the
legal system. She was afforded nine different court-appointed lawyers
- none of whom met with her satisfaction, and went through six
judges. The judge who tried the case was so traumatized that he
refuses to have anything further to do with the case
or Vickie Kittles.

Kittles, who has a long criminal record of assaultive conduct dating
back to the late 60s, surfaced most publically in Broward County
Florida in the early 1980s when she was charged with various crimes
after neighbors complained about the scores of dogs and two horses
she kept in her mother's suburban house.  Kittles claimed then - and
now - that she is the victim of a massive government conspiracy,
somehow tied to the Drug Enforcement Administration,
that sought o poison her and "her" dogs.

''As D.A. I usually handle murder cases, and Kittles is
in my opinion one of the most dangerous, evil people I have ever
encountered.
She has enough psychosis to be exasperating, and enough cunning
to bend the system to her will. Like any really nasty virus, she should
be confroted and stopped before she can ruin more lives - of people
and dogs.

She was eventually run out of one part of Florida only to surface in
another with her aged mother, Jean Sullivan, who has not been since
since living in filth with her daughter in rural Manatee County, Florida.
From there Kittles (alone) went on to Mississippi, where she
convinced some good-hearted souls that she would "save" scores of
dogs by taking them to a "no-kill" shelter in Colorado.

 From Mississippi she fled to Colorado where she once again claimed
persecution. She left a wake of well-meaning vets with unpaid bills
and sponsors who she turned on when they failed to give her
everything she wanted. From Colorado in the late 80s she travelled t
rural Washington where she and "her" digs were delivered by a semi-
truck. True to form, she was successful in conning some wealthy
backers to send her $15,000 which she used
to buy a school bus that became her home, and the prison for
over100 dogs. She once again rung every bit of kindeness - and
money - out of her would-be benefactor before accusing her too of
being involved in a plot.
''When the dog was autopsied there was absolutely no food in its
system or ANY body fat - a sign of long and painful starvation.''

 She then
moved across the Columbia River to rural Clatsop County  where she
was finally confronted by Animal Control Supervisor Tommi Brunich
on April 16, 1993. Brunich found a positively surreal scene in which
Kittles shrieked threats at officers and neigbors while grasping a dog
that was continually convulsing. The dog, which had received no
veterinary care but that "special knowledge" possesed by Kittles, died
despite the best efforts of local vets.
When the dog was autposied there was absolutely no food in its
system or ANY body fat - a sign of long and painful starvation.

The scene on board the bus was worse - 115 dogs, four cats, and two
roosters crammed into a bus caked with urine and feces, stinking so
bad that officers used gas masks to go inside.  Kittles
boasted at trial that she had not let any of the dogs off the bus for
weeks to prevent them from getting fleas.  The dogs were however,
suffering from almost every other parasite, including hookworm,
whipworm, and in at least 16 cases, deadly heartworm.

After Kittles was arrested she threatened to sue
anyone who touched "her" dogs. Despite her claims of love for the
dogs she visted them only once and actually convinced a judge to
FORBID the state from getting medical treatment for any of the dogs.
When I took office in the spring of 1994 Kittles was merrily holding
the whole court system hostage,
alternately ranting and raving, and filing literally hunndreds of self-
styled legal motions. Eventually we got the dogs treated for
heartworm, and despite
Kittles best efforts to delay the trial, were scheduled to finally go to
court on August 2, 1994. Despite strong objections from my office the
judge had permitted Kittles to live out of state - just across the river,
and when the trial date came, Kittles refused to show up, requiring an
extradition fight which took 3 months just to get her back.

''Animal collectors are much
like drug addicts in their pathology, and much more interested in
themselves than 'their' animals. ''

In a trial that should have taken two days, Kittles berated the judge,
me, the witnesses, the jurors, and the audience, and only later in the
trial was finally sentenced to spend a total of 71 days in jail for
contempt. Kittles used every artifice available to endlessly question
witnesses about irrelevant material and when her turn came to give
her side, she talked steadily for two and a half days.
The jury - often the traget of her accusations of being genetically
deficient - took only a couple hours before unanimously convicting
her on all 42 counts.

The case drew huge attention from regional media who sent satellite
TV trucks to cover the more spectacular parts of the bizzare trial.
Kittles is an animal collector,
She is now serving a seven-month jail sentence  She is likely to
leave the state when released and will probably start collecting
somewhere else in the United States.

NOTE: 7 months will be about 1/3 with good behavior and credit for time 
served, and this was a clear 100% proven case of animal abuse/neglect 
with skin and boned dogs as the evidence!
-- 
      Dog welfare page; http://www.teleport.com/~wolfe/dog.welfare.html
  St Bernard web page; http://www.teleport.com/~wolfe/saints/stbernard.html
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