CC judge orders jail time for defiant dog kennel owner

A Rottweiler kennel owner in Charles City, who has continually defied a court order to cease operations, is now serving time in jail.

Linda K. Howard must spend 10 days behind bars after being found guilty of contempt in county circuit court. Judge Thomas B. Hoover handed down the sentence on Tuesday after hearing testimony about the latest sting operation that snared the defendant attempting to sell dogs.

Last May 4, Hoover found Howard guilty on two counts of operating a commercial kennel without a county special use permit and ordered her to close down within 30 days. A few weeks later, the county’s Board of Supervisors unanimously rejected Howard’s request for renewal of a permit that had been revoked back in January 2009.

But apparently Howard continued to sell dogs from her Big Dog Kennel, located at 5226 North Warriner Road. Acting on a series of classified ads for dogs for sale placed in a Richmond newspaper, Capt. Jayson Crawley of the Charles City Sheriff’s Office posed as a potential buyer, contacting Howard by phone on July 17. A recording of the conversation was played Tuesday in court.

On the tape, Howard could be heard saying she had two litters of puppies, about 10 weeks old, and giving directions to her kennel. When Crawley inquired about price, Howard said the average per dog was about $1,500.

Testifying in her own behalf, Howard was adamant in saying she thought she had “a stay of execution” since she was appealing the May court outcome as well as the supervisors’ decision. She said she based her belief on a passage in county law and a letter she claimed to have received from Hoover that included refund of a court imposed fine.

“I don’t send letters out to private, individual defendants, only attorneys,” Hoover said, adding that the refund check apparently originated in the court clerk’s office.

“On appeal, you don’t have to immediately pay a fine, but the ruling of the court that you can’t operate remains in effect,” the judge told Howard. “How can I make it any clearer that you have 30 days to cease operations?”

Prosecutor Rob Tyler said the answer could be jail time.

“She just refuses to stop selling dogs,” Tyler told the court. “There’s no stopping her until someone forces her to do it, but I think nothing short of jail is going to do it.”

Under questioning from Hoover, Howard said she has sold close to a dozen puppies since the May ruling at prices ranging from $500 to $1,700.

Defense attorney Robert Isaacs argued that the issue before the court is what his client actually understood about the May court ruling.

“She lacks intent to violate the court order,” he said. “All that she saw was a stay of execution and didn’t understand she couldn’t sell.”

Hoover, however, accepted Tyler’s recommendation, imposing six months in jail with all but 10 days suspended for the next two years. The judge said jail time was called for “to get the message through to her she has to respect the court order. Anything short of that, she’ll walk out of court and be selling dogs tomorrow.”

Howard implored the judge to refrain from imposing jail.

“Jail will be a very big hardship with my health. I’m 65 years old,” she said. “Give me 10 days and I’ll vacate and never come back in this county. I feel I’ve been persecuted here.”

But Hoover did not budge, ordering court bailiffs to take Howard into custody. The judge also ordered Howard to immediately stop all dog sales and breeding on her property and have all dogs removed from the property by Oct. 10.

Tuesday’s court appearance, meanwhile, did not start well for Howard. When Hoover called her case, she had already left the courthouse and driven to the nearby county administration building, presumably to retrieve a document. Howard’s absence did not enthrall the judge.

“You don’t set this court’s schedule,” an angry Hoover told Howard after the defendant returned. The judge found her in contempt, imposing a $100 fine plus court costs.

Pending outcome of the matters under appeal, the saga of Howard’s Charles City kennel operation, which began in 2005, could be over. But Howard told the court on Tuesday that she plans on moving her business to neighboring New Kent County. She said she has leased space in the New Kent Business Center located on Route 106 (Emmaus Church Road), and is in the process of securing a New Kent business license.