New court date set for cruelty case

By Stephanie Prokop, Staff Writer
SPRINGFIELD— Two North Jersey men facing charges of animal cruelty have had their case postponed for a second time, with a court date set for Tuesday.
    Dennis Cameron, of Piscataway, and Patrick Nelson, of Lake Hiawatha, each face 24 counts of failure to provide a living creature with proper food, and maintaining poor conditions for horses on their farm on Arney’s Mount Road.
    The reason for the further postponement of the trial, which had been scheduled for Oct. 14, is to allow the defendants to secure more information before the trial, according to Springfield Township Municipal Court Administrator Ruth Ann Bice.
    Ms. Bice said Mr. Nelson had secured hired an attorney on the last business day before the Oct. 14 trail, after Municipal Court Judge Richard Andronici had granted the two men 60 days to get attorneys.
    She said Mr. Nelson will be represented by Charles R. Iannuzzi.
    As of Monday, Mr. Cameron did not have a lawyer, said Ms. Bice.
    Ms. Bice said both men, along with representatives from the New Jersey Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, were present at the Oct. 14 court date.
    The Oct. 28 meeting will be for case management, when the judge reviews information with both defendants, added Ms. Bice.
    Originally the two men were scheduled to appear before Judge Andronici on Aug. 12, but, Ms. Bice said, the hearing was delayed so that the defendants could obtain lawyers.
    Retired thoroughbreds are boarded at the property, DMS Farm, said neighbor Maggie Payne.
    According to Ms. Payne, the horses appear to be very skinny and have noticeable blisters and open wounds on them.
    This has been a source of outrage for the neighbors, said Ms. Payne, who said she had approached the farm’s owners about a dilapidated fence.
    Ms. Payne said that because the fence was broken, the horses would escape out onto Arney’s Mount Road and she was fearful that they would get hit by a car at night.
    “We just didn’t want to see any of these horses getting killed out on the road,” she said.
    According to NJSPCA spokesperson Matt Stanton, charges were originally filed in February.
    Normally, the ASPCA would normally allow only a 24- or, at most, a 48-hour window before it would write a ticket, but the state Department of Agriculture granted a three-month grace period to let the owners take care of the horses’ conditions.
    The horses remain at the farm while the legal process continues.
    The last visit was in June, when the NJSPCA wrote out eight tickets.
    Ms. Payne continues to try to make a consistent effort to bring the inhumane treatment that the animals are receiving to light.
    “We’re just trying to do the right thing, and see these horses being treated fairly,” she said this summer.