By Peter Elacqua
Staff Writer
HOWELL – The Howell couple who had more than 270 dogs removed from their home in June has pleaded guilty and agreed to a plea deal to conclude the case.
On Nov. 16, Charlene and Joseph Handrick appeared in Howell Municipal Court before Judge Susan Schroeder Clark and prosecutor Steven Zabarsky.
Zabarsky said they each agreed to plead guilty to one criminal charge of animal cruelty, which is a disorderly persons offense. That charge comes with a $500 fine. In addition, they each pleaded guilty to 24 civil charges of animal cruelty with a $500 fine for each charge. The total fines related to these guilty pleas amounts to $25,000.
In addition, Charlene and Joseph Handrick will each will pay $1,750 to the Monmouth County SPCA (MCSPCA) in restitution, for a total of $3,500.
Under the terms of the plea agreement, Charlene and Joseph will each undergo a psychological evaluation to determine if they are fit to care for domesticated animals in the future. If a licensed physician deems them fit to care for an animal, they may have one or two dogs or cats and will be under the supervision of the MCSPCA.
Finally, the Handricks’ home will be subject to random inspections by authorized officials, such as the MCSPCA and the Associated Humane Societies, the contracted animal control services for Howell.
Charlene Handrick also pleaded guilty to 20 counts of having an unlicensed dog and 20 counts of failing to properly vaccinate a dog. Each count comes with a $40 fine, for a total of $1,600 in fines.
“We are lucky the dogs are in good shape,” Clark said, “I can’t get beyond that this is ultimately a selfish act. This is a house that was in such bad shape that (the professionals who removed the dogs) had to enter with Hazmat suits.
“I am concerned about both of their futures when it comes to having animals. I ask that you (Charlene and Joseph) think long and hard about the physical and psychological impact you had on those animals because is shocking,” Clark said.
“We are very pleased we came to a conclusion on this,” said Ross Licitra, the MCSPCA’s executive director and chief of humane law enforcement. “The Handricks are by far good people and as we said in the courtroom, this is a crime of omission, not commission. It did not start off to be cruel to these animals, it was just their circumstances and their lifestyle that brought these animals into a cruel situation.
“Thank God we were able to intervene, thank God with their cooperation we were able to rescue these animals and get them all to homes where they are being loved and cared for the way they should be.
“We are grateful to the court, the prosecutor and even to the defense counsel for working with everybody to bring a good, solid conclusion to the end of a very long and lengthy investigation and care for these animals,” he said.
“It was very important for us to have at least one charge as a criminal charge for the mere fact that if this ever happened again, it would be considered a second offense and therefore would take it into the level of an indictable crime to be heard in Superior Court,” Licitra said.
Licitra gave an update on the dogs that were removed from the Handricks’ home in June that have yet to be adopted.
“We have about six dogs left and several of them have psychological issues,” he said. “They are basically wild dogs. We are making every effort we possibly can to make a happy ending for each and every animal that has come into our custody. We are doing the best we can do, we have had a lot of luck with most of them, there are just a few left and we are not going to give up on them.
“I would like to make a special thanks to all the people who have donated to the Monmouth County SPCA to help with the care of these animals because every bit of those donations was used to care for the 276 animals that came into our care, and the care at St. Hubert’s and the Associated Humane Societies.
“We received thousands of dollars in donations from people all across the country, from New York to California to Ohio and even people from Europe; not only in monetary donations, but in-kind donations. We have received food donations from large organizations like Hill’s food, PetSmart and Petco, and all of these people who were involved in all animal welfare came to task in order to help do the job we needed to do,” Licitra said.
Attorney Ray Raya, who represented the Handricks, said, “I think this resolution represents hope for the future. The research we presented to the state is that people who get into this position can get into this position again, but if they are properly supervised, have counseling and have inspections, it can lead them back to the path of responsible pet ownership.
“I really do believe this got away from a disabled woman. They are not mean-spirited people, these are people who fed these animals, who spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on food. Were the conditions bad? Yes. Could they have been enormously worse? Yes, you could have had dogs that were dying of starvation and the fact is that they were fed every day,” Raya said.
“But when you have essentially one disabled woman as their caregiver and you have dogs multiplying, it was impossible for her to do it. (Joseph) would get home from work late at night and he did the best he could to clean and things of that nature. We presented the state with veterinary reports, rabies vaccinations, it just wasn’t for all of the dogs.
“These are good people who but for a horrible disability from Mrs. Handrick, probably would not have been involved in this situation. They probably should have asked for help, but at some point they probably thought they were going to get in trouble as well.
“They got caught between a rock and a hard place, they don’t have any family, they don’t have anybody to help them. I was pleased to be able to represent them and to be able to find a resolution that provides them a path to the future without destroying their lives,” Raya said.