ESCANABA, MI A Delta County woman is headed to trial for allegedly running a puppy mill in Maple Ridge Township.
Rebecca Johnson of Rock is charged with felony abandoning/cruelty to 25 or more animals and a misdemeanor charge of running an unregistered shelter or pound. Last August, 134 dogs and 18 horses were confiscated and brought to the Delta Animal Shelter after they were discovered on Johnson’s property. Many of the animals were in poor condition.
Johnson stood mute at her circuit court arraignment Monday. That translates to not guilty pleas entered on her behalf.
Because of a backlog of cases due to the pandemic, trial is set for May 2 of 2022. Johnson faces up to 7 years in prison on the felony charge and up to
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iminor@dailypress.net
ESCANABA No changes have been made to Escanaba’s animal ordinance despite concerns raised by an Escanaba woman that limits on the number of dogs that can be kept in a home could prevent foster homes from taking in animals from the Delta Animal Shelter.
The issue was first raised last month, when resident Kathy Woodbury approached the council saying she had been visited by an Escanaba Public Safety officer for violating the city’s animal ordinance while fostering dogs that were seized from an alleged puppy mill in Maple Ridge Township. Woodbury, who said she and her husband had been long-time fosterers of animals from the shelter, had dogs of their own, which pushed them above the legal limit of four dogs over the age of four months in a single residence.
iminor@dailypress.net
Daily Press file photo
A dog taken from an alleged puppy mill is cared for at the Delta Animal Shelter last year. The rights to the animals seized was forfeited during a hearing Monday in Delta County District Court.
ESCANABA In what would have been a packed courtroom, Rebecca Sue Johnson of Maple Ridge Township voluntarily forfeited the animals she is accused of abusing and neglecting in an alleged puppy mill during a brief hearing Monday.
Two hundred people logged into the civil forfeiture hearing, which was held over Zoom early Monday morning, including Johnson and her attorney Derek Swajanen. A handful of court staff and Delta County Chief Assistant Prosecutor Lauren Wickman filled the 94th District courtroom, wearing masks and separated by plexiglass dividers.
ILSA MINOR
ESCANABA In what would have been a packed courtroom, Rebecca Sue Johnson of Maple Ridge Township voluntarily forfeited the animals she is accused of abusing and neglecting in an alleged puppy mill during a brief hearing Monday.
Two hundred people logged into the civil forfeiture hearing, which was held over Zoom early Monday morning, including Johnson and her attorney Derek Swajanen of Marquette. A handful of court staff and Delta County Chief Assistant Prosecutor Lauren Wickman were present in the 94th District courtroom, wearing masks and separated by plexiglass dividers.
“I do understand that we have a number of people observing this proceeding … basically as spectators, as they would be entitled to do if the court was open for business and we could allow people in the courtroom,” said District Court Judge Steve Parks before warning spectators not to unmute themselves during the proceedings. While it has not been the court’s policy to publicly hold hearing
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