Tehachapi woman pleads no contest to animal cruelty
| Wednesday, Jan 27 2010 12:19 PM
Last Updated Wednesday, Jan 27 2010 12:19 PM
Cynthia Gudger, who has been taking medication for mental issues relating to hoarding dogs and cats, pleaded no contest Wednesday to five counts of felony animal cruelty on the conditions she will be released from custody March 1, cooperate with mental health treatment and not possess animals for five years.
Gudger, 61, calmly entered pleas in the nearly two-year-old criminal case marked by loud outbursts from her in court alleging unfair treatment.
Kern County Animal Control officers found Gudger living with 18 dogs and 34 cats under the name of Anita Gilbert in a Tehachapi warehouse in July 2008. Officers described the condition of the warehouse as "deplorable."
She was also keeping 12 animal carcasses in freezers on the property, which was heavily littered with feces and open cans of cat food, animal control officers reported.
Before coming to Kern County, Gudger faced animal abuse allegations under the name of Barbara Ryan in Hemet, but she skipped out on bail in that case.
Defense attorney Michael C. Lukehart said Gudger faced up to 13 years in prison for all the crimes she had been accused of, but she has credits for two years in custody in both the Kern County jail and Patton State Hospital where she was recently treated for a mental condition.
Her sentencing will be March 1 before Judge Collette Humphrey. Gudger will likely be transferred to Riverside County for the Hemet case, but Lukehart said he did not expect her to get any more time in custody.
In the Kern County case, she faced 10 counts of animal cruelty and a felony count of making threats against a previous defense attorney. Those charges were suspended in March when a judge ruled Gudger was not mentally competent to stand trial.
She accepted a plea deal on Wednesday calling for her to be placed on five years probation, continue with mental health treatment and be banned from possessing any animals for five years, Lukehart said.
