NY woman in pet torture case held on $100K bail

[Liberal_in_LA]

**Kudos to the son for turning in his Mother**

NY woman in pet torture case held on $100K bail
By FRANK ELTMAN, Associated Press Writer

Friday, December 18, 2009


(12-18) 11:36 PST Central Islip, N.Y. (AP) --

A judge ordered a New York woman held on $100,000 bail Friday after prosecutors cited evidence that some of the 42 dead animals buried in her yard had been tortured, with duct tape around their mouths or signs that they had drowned.

Sharon McDonough, 43, had been free without bail after her November arrest on misdemeanor charges, but she was taken away in handcuffs after her appearance Friday in Suffolk County Court in Central Islip.

McDonough faces "the likelihood of a felony indictment," said John Cortes, assistant district attorney. Authorities initially found 20 dogs buried behind her Selden home in early November; a subsequent search Dec. 8 uncovered another 22 dead animals.

Necropsies found evidence the animals had been abused, Cortes said.

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McDonough has been charged with abusing five dogs and a cat found alive in her home. A shepherd mix, a beagle mix, an Italian greyhound, a cocker spaniel mix, a pug and a tabby cat were living in wretched cages, authorities said.

After McDonough's arrest, some neighbors feared the worst for pets that disappeared in recent months. But Roy Gross of the Suffolk County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals later concluded that McDonough probably bought the animals or adopted them through shelters and other traditional outlets.

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A Family Court judge has removed custody of McDonough's six daughters, ranging in age from 18 months to 13 years.

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Douglas McDonough, 21, turned in his mother on Nov. 5. He described the home as "a concentration camp for the animals" and claimed he and some of his siblings were present when animals were abused and killed.

He was in the courtroom when Hensley made the bail order but declined to comment afterward.


Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2009/12/18/national/a101548S59.DTL&tsp=1#ixzz0a4g3sbAr

[Brickbat]

1. Gah, those poor kids....kudos to the son for having the courage to turn in his own mother.

I hope they get the help they need.

[GreenPartyVoter]

2. +1

[Pavulon]

3. what filth.

nothing else to say.

[alstephenson]

4. WTF???

Speechless...

[Skip Intro]

5. I want her to feel the pain and suffering she inflicted on those helpless animals. Is that wrong?

[Warpy]

9. Yes.

I want her locked up since she obviously gets her kicks out of inflicting pain. The woman is sick and I don't want her to be able to act out her sickness on another living creature.

This is why we used to have institutions for the criminally insane, drug them up and keep them away from anyone they could hurt.

She abused her children as much as she abused the animals, if not more. The poor animals had an end to their suffering. Her children will carry the scars all their lives.

[Jim__]

6. I have to believe they'll order a psychiatric evaluation - n/t

[undeterred]

7. John Yoo called.

He would like to represent her.

[Blue Owl]

11. she was probably one of his pupils

That John Yoo is one sick fuck. Anyone who advocates torture is.

[frebrd]

8. While they've got hold of her......

I certainly hope they spay her!

[Blue Owl]

10. Talk about depraved

That is just horrible in so many ways.

Shudder.

[pitohui]

12. are we sure the son wasn't the doer?

i thought if you looked at the demographics it would be far more likely for a young man than a middle aged woman to be an animal torturer

how would you defend yourself if you had a crazy family member who did this and then pinned it on you? i don't think you would be able to prove your innocence

maybe there's good evidence that this woman is the doer, i hope so, since her life is going to be destroyed

[ima_sinnic]

13. in this case, I advocate the medieval practice of stocks in the town square

I'd like to be there with a few rocks. Let the disgusting piece of filth starve out there to the scorn, ridicule, and whatever else people want to hurl at her. Let her die a slooooow agonizing death over a period of, oh, five or ten years.

[JonQ]

14. What the hell is wrong with her?

Seriously, there is no justification for this.

I'm surprised her kid turned out normal enough to realize this was wrong and turn her in.

[pitohui]

15. there's evidence the animals have been tortured, that she did it? not so much

the story doesn't pass the smell test

the kid who turned her in was 21, not age 2

i figure it's just as likely if not more likely that he's the one who tortured the animals

there have been many cases of women killing with kindness (animal collecting) but do i believe, without evidence, that SHE is the one who duct-taped mouths closed and buried the animals alive? this would be an unusual crime for a woman to commit and i would like more evidence than "he said, she said"

any kid who is already in his 20s before he wakes up and says, "oh by the way, my mom tortures animals" -- i dunno, seems like if it was really her, he might have noticed it way before now -- whereas if he were just bitter abt the animal collecting and took it out on a few of them and now decided to take it out on her, he'd prob. get away with it if he kept his cool

something abt this story is just wrong, wrong, wrong

remember the "OMG gangs are kidnapping peasants in peru and melting them down for beauty cream" -- turned out to be a complete fabrication BY THE POLICE!!!!

if something doesn't pass the smell test i'm reserving judgment

someone hurt these animals and should pay but i'm not rushing to judgment