BY FRANK DELANO
A Richmond County woman was fined $500 yesterday after pleading guilty to taking a hunting dog without the owner's permission and removing its radio collar.
Theresa Ellen Gordon, 45, faced a total of 32 years in prison on charges that she stole the dog and its collar in December 2007.
In Richmond County General District Court in Warsaw, substitute Judge Scott Katona accepted a plea agreement that amended the original dog-larceny felony charge against Gordon to a misdemeanor charge of taking and using an animal without the owner's permission.
Gordon pleaded guilty to the reduced charge and to removing the dog's collar.
The court dropped a grand larceny charge against Gordon for stealing the collar, worth more than $200.
Katona also sentenced Gordon to 90 days in jail, all of which was suspended.
In a related matter, a trial and a preliminary hearing for another Richmond County woman, Annie Davis, 75, was postponed until Jan. 9.
The cases of Gordon and Davis have attracted the attention of both animal-rights and hunting-rights groups.
In a March interview, Davis claimed that the dog escaped from her shelter for abandoned and abused dogs near Haynesville. Davis said the emaciated hound later showed up at Gordon's house and that Gordon brought the dog to Davis' shelter.
Davis said Gordon had called the number listed on the dog's collar, but the man who answered said he was working in Maryland and could not immediately come to pick up the dog.
She said authorities later showed up at her house looking for the dog. Davis was charged with felony larceny, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years, and lying to a police officer, a misdemeanor that could send her to jail for a year.
Jane Wrightson, Davis' attorney, said she is convinced of her innocence on both charges and is certain that the court will agree.
Frank Delano: 804/333-3834
Email: fpdelano@gmail.com