ANSONIA – CORRECTION: An article published Sept. 9 titled ‘Three Women Charged with Animal Cruelty in Ansonia’ contained a serious error.
The article published the name of a person who was not, in fact, charged with the crimes listed.
We removed the article immediately after being alerted of the mistake through an email on Saturday (Sept. 12).
On Monday, Sept. 14, we reviewed the claim and determined that the wrong person’s first name had been published.
We apologize to the person named and to our readers for making the mistake.
We are not naming the specific person so that we do not repeat the mistake.
Earlier links to the original article have been removed from Valley Indy social media.
ANSONIA — Police said they charged three women with animal cruelty Sept 7, five months after more than 40 animals were removed from a home on Schumacher Drive.
April Pardy, 43, Nadia Otero, 24, and Alana Otero, 21, were served with arrest warrants Sept. 7 charging them each with one count of animal cruelty.
On April 23, law enforcement used a search warrant to raid a residence on Schumacher Drive where police said the three women lived (although one of the women — Alana Otero — said she did not live there). Police said they had received reports about unsanitary living conditions in the residence.
According to the arrest warrant for Nadia Otero, police struggled to open the home’s front door due to a buildup of debris and dog feces in the entryway.
“Officers were immediately overwhelmed by a strong odor of animal feces and urine, despite wearing N95 masks, causing several officers to gag,” the arrest warrant says.
Police allegedly found more garbage strewn throughout the home, including soiled diapers, dog feces and empty pizza boxes.
Officers said they found 39 dogs in the home.
Some of the dogs had fur matted with feces and urine and nails so long they struggled to walk, according to the warrant. Police confiscated the dogs, along with three ferrets.
However, the dogs were in fairly healthy condition overall, according to veterinary evaluations done afterward cited in the arrest warrant.
“Considering the conditions of the house the dogs were in good condition, no hair loss, no skin conditions, no ear infections and appeared that the dogs were a good weight,” the warrant says.
Animal control officers later gave four of the dogs back to the family, along with the ferrets. Some of the other dogs were placed in rescues between Connecticut and Rhode Island.
Ansonia police Lt. Alexander Barreira said the animal cruelty charges were lodged because of the unsanitary living conditions. It took time to coordinate the investigation, which included personnel from the state Department of Children and Families.
Animal owners are required by law “to provide an animal with proper care and to supply such animal with wholesome air, food, and water,” the warrant says.
The arrests means police established probable cause to make arrests. It’s the start of the judicial process, not the end.
Three juveniles were in the residence, according to the arrest warrant and an April 24 statement from police.
The children were taken to the hospital to be evaluated. After the April raid, the three women were charged with three counts each of risk of injury to a child, according to court records. Those charges are pending, according to the state judicial website.
On the animal cruelty charges, the three women are scheduled to appear at Superior Court in Derby Sept. 21, according to a police arrest log.
However, the animal cruelty charges have not shown up on any public court docket.
Ansonia police reconfirmed Sept. 14 that the trio had been charged Sept. 7 in Ansonia with cruelty to animals.