Columbia woman convicted of animal cruelty
Owen Brown resident had more than 100 cats
By Mike Santa Rita
msantarita@patuxent.com
Posted 9/26/08
An 81-year-old Columbia woman was convicted of animal cruelty Sept. 24 in Howard County Circuit Court after appealing a 2007 animal cruelty conviction for neglecting cats in her Owen Brown home.
After a two-day trial, a jury convicted the woman, Ayten Icgoren, of 21 counts of animal cruelty, according to Wayne Kirwan, a spokesman for Howard County State’s Attorney Dario Broccolino. The jury deliberated for about two hours before returning a guilty verdict at about 8 p.m. Sept. 24, Kirwan said.
In August 2006, animal control officials found more than 100 cats in Icgoren’s house many of whom had died, according to Assistant State’s Attorney Devora Pontell. About 50 cats seized in the house had to be euthanized because they were in such poor condition, Pontell told jurors.
During the trial Nadia Wasserman, a neighbor of Icgoren told jurors that she had called animal control officers because her house had become infested with insects and the stench coming from Icgoren’s house was overwhelming.
Icgoren faces up to 90 days in jail on each count, Kirwan said.
Retired Howard County Circuit Court Judge Thomas Nissel placed Icgoren on supervised probation until her sentencing, which is scheduled for Jan. 8, 2009, and ordered a monthly inspection of her home, Kirwan said.
Icgoren’s trial resulted from an appeal of a March 2007 District Court ruling in which she entered an Alford plea to the counts of animal cruelty stemming from the same case, Kirwan said. An Alford plea means a defendant pleads guilty without admitting responsibility for the crime, he said.
By appealing the case to the Circuit Court, Icgoren was essentially given a new trial, Broccolino said.
During opening arguments Sept. 23, Pontell likened the house that animal control officers came to in August 2006 as “a scene out of a horror movie.”
Cat feces were everywhere, dead cats were spread throughout the house and the stench was so overwhelming that animal control officers could not stay in the house for very long, Pontell said.
“The rooms, the halls, the surface areas (were) covered in urine, feces and insects,” Pontell said.
Arthur Reynolds, Icgoren’s attorney, told jurors that Icgoren, a retired radiologist, was not a cruel woman who abused her cats.
“Dr. Icgoren’s not some wicked witch of the west or some barbarian,” he said. “She’s a cultured, loving, caring woman.”
Reynolds also said the complaints to Howard County Animal Control resulted from an ongoing feud between Icgoren and her neighbor.
Reynolds also said Icgoren was injured in an automobile collision in August 2006, making her ‘‘physically unable to care for that many cats.”
In testimony Sept. 24, Icgoren talked of her love for cats.
“Why should I be cruel to them?” she said. “I loved them. I love all the animals.”
She said she had not spayed or neutered the animals in her care because of her Islamic beliefs. “Operations are very dangerous,” she said.
Wasserman, Icgoren’s neighbor, testified that she called animal control because her house was infested with insects from next door.
“You couldn’t go to your bedroom and read a book without all these bugs around you,” she said.
Howard County Animal Control Administrator Deborah Baracco said she went into the house on the day animal control officials entered it. She found empty cat food bowls, mounds of cat feces and blood, and cardboard boxes containing dead cats.
“The stench coming out of the home was unbearable,” she said.
Icgoren’s attorney could not be reached for comment.
After a two-day trial, a jury convicted the woman, Ayten Icgoren, of 21 counts of animal cruelty, according to Wayne Kirwan, a spokesman for Howard County State’s Attorney Dario Broccolino. The jury deliberated for about two hours before returning a guilty verdict at about 8 p.m. Sept. 24, Kirwan said.
In August 2006, animal control officials found more than 100 cats in Icgoren’s house many of whom had died, according to Assistant State’s Attorney Devora Pontell. About 50 cats seized in the house had to be euthanized because they were in such poor condition, Pontell told jurors.
During the trial Nadia Wasserman, a neighbor of Icgoren told jurors that she had called animal control officers because her house had become infested with insects and the stench coming from Icgoren’s house was overwhelming.
Icgoren faces up to 90 days in jail on each count, Kirwan said.
Retired Howard County Circuit Court Judge Thomas Nissel placed Icgoren on supervised probation until her sentencing, which is scheduled for Jan. 8, 2009, and ordered a monthly inspection of her home, Kirwan said.
Icgoren’s trial resulted from an appeal of a March 2007 District Court ruling in which she entered an Alford plea to the counts of animal cruelty stemming from the same case, Kirwan said. An Alford plea means a defendant pleads guilty without admitting responsibility for the crime, he said.
By appealing the case to the Circuit Court, Icgoren was essentially given a new trial, Broccolino said.
During opening arguments Sept. 23, Pontell likened the house that animal control officers came to in August 2006 as “a scene out of a horror movie.”
Cat feces were everywhere, dead cats were spread throughout the house and the stench was so overwhelming that animal control officers could not stay in the house for very long, Pontell said.
“The rooms, the halls, the surface areas (were) covered in urine, feces and insects,” Pontell said.
Arthur Reynolds, Icgoren’s attorney, told jurors that Icgoren, a retired radiologist, was not a cruel woman who abused her cats.
“Dr. Icgoren’s not some wicked witch of the west or some barbarian,” he said. “She’s a cultured, loving, caring woman.”
Reynolds also said the complaints to Howard County Animal Control resulted from an ongoing feud between Icgoren and her neighbor.
Reynolds also said Icgoren was injured in an automobile collision in August 2006, making her ‘‘physically unable to care for that many cats.”
In testimony Sept. 24, Icgoren talked of her love for cats.
“Why should I be cruel to them?” she said. “I loved them. I love all the animals.”
She said she had not spayed or neutered the animals in her care because of her Islamic beliefs. “Operations are very dangerous,” she said.
Wasserman, Icgoren’s neighbor, testified that she called animal control because her house was infested with insects from next door.
“You couldn’t go to your bedroom and read a book without all these bugs around you,” she said.
Howard County Animal Control Administrator Deborah Baracco said she went into the house on the day animal control officials entered it. She found empty cat food bowls, mounds of cat feces and blood, and cardboard boxes containing dead cats.
“The stench coming out of the home was unbearable,” she said.
Icgoren’s attorney could not be reached for comment.
user comments (1)
user stfpare says...
Thank goodness that animal hoarding is now officially classified as a mental illness. Unfortunately there is no cure. She will have to be monitored for the rest of her life, what's left of it. Sad for her and horrendous for those cats.
Posted 7:11 PM, 09.25.08
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