EVERETT — A Superior Court judge recently raised questions about why an animal hoarder ended up in front of a jury instead of being admitted to a county-funded program meant to divert mentally ill people out of the criminal justice system.
Judge George Bowden called the case troubling. He was particularly concerned that it appeared that the homeless woman wasn’t allowed into the diversion program because she couldn’t pay back the $18,000 the auditor’s office claims the investigation cost.
“None of that makes sense,” Bowden said at a sentencing hearing earlier this month.
The case highlights the complexities facing the courts when dealing with people living with mental illness, he said. Bowden sentenced the woman to 120 hours of community service. He also ordered her to obtain mental health treatment and banned her from owning cats.
“I can’t see any sense in warehousing you,” Bowden said, adding that it would have cost the county another $2,500 to jail the woman for a month.
Snohomish County animal control officers worked for months in 2014 trying to persuade Kathryn St. Clare to relinquish dozens of cats that she was keeping in an Airstream travel trailer. Officers received numerous complaints from people who saw sickly cats locked up in the trailer without proper ventilation. St. Clare declined to turn over her cats, and moved the trailer multiple times without notifying animal control officers.
St. Clare, 56, was a software tester for 20 years before being laid off in 2009. She couldn’t find another job in the industry and became homeless. Those changes and other traumatic life events likely led her to collect cats, a psychologist concluded.
Because of her disorder the judge was told she lacked insight into the reality of her situation. She went so far as to live in unsafe conditions so as not to be separated from her animals.
The cats became her family. “They are not some disposable item you dump at a shelter,” she told the psychologist during her mental health evaluation.
St. Clare didn’t believe her cats were as sick as described by animal control officers, the psychologist concluded.
“I hope you can see it through her eyes. She felt like she was being asked to march her family to the gallows,” her attorney, Robert O’Neal, said at the Feb. 2 hearing. “She didn’t mean to do the wrong thing.”
Eventually animal control officers raided St. Clare’s trailer and removed 111 cats. The animals were in various stages of dehydration and malnutrition. All of the cats and kittens were euthanized because of their untreatable and infectious conditions.
St. Clare was charged with three counts of animal cruelty. Prosecutors tacked on seven additional counts when St. Clare opted to go to trial.
O’Neal, a veteran public defender, had suggested that his client was a good candidate for the county’s Therapeutic Alternatives to Prosecution program. St. Clare, who has no criminal history, never intended to harm her animals, he said. Bowden agreed with the defense attorney’s assertion.
These were defenseless animals, and they were neglected, the judge said. “But it’s not a case of someone doing something deliberate to do harm.”
He said that the TAP program seemed like an appropriate way to address St. Clare’s mental health disorder.
The program, run by the Snohomish County Prosecutor’s Office, is supported by sales tax earmarked specifically for mental health and addiction programs. Clients sign a three-year contract and agree to seek appropriate treatment to address their mental disorders or substance abuse. Three counselors manage the cases and meet with clients to monitor their progress. Participants must follow through with treatment and abide by other conditions. If they complete the program, the criminal charges are dropped.
Not everyone is eligible, Snohomish County Prosecuting Attorney Mark Roe said. His office decides who is allowed in. People must agree that they’re guilty of the crimes filed against them. They also must pay back restitution. Violent and sex crimes generally are ruled out.
There have been 358 referrals to TAP since it started in 2013. Forty people have successfully completed the program, About 47 percent of those referred to TAP were not admitted because they didn’t respond to the offer or declined to show up for screening, program lead Shelly Yale said.
About 4 percent were ineligible because they weren’t able to pay restitution.
O’Neal said St. Clare was denied access because she couldn’t afford to pay the county auditor’s office $18,000. She works odd jobs for room and board.
The prosecutor’s office maintains there were other reasons that St. Clare wasn’t eligible for TAP. There was no certainty that she was going to admit her guilt, Snohomish County deputy prosecutor Michael Boska told Bowden. It also was important that she be ordered to stay away from cats.
“We were never trying to send this woman to jail,” Roe said.
TAP cannot impose sanctions, such as jail time or electronic home monitoring, if someone isn’t complying with conditions, Yale said.
“We rely on clients being far enough along in accepting their mental health and chemical dependency issues and being ready to commit to recovery,” she said.
The psychologist who evaluated St. Clare noted that treatment for animal hoarding is in the early stages of research.
“What is known is that this behavior, absent any mental health intervention, has nearly a 100 percent recidivism rate,” she wrote.
His client was in the process of recognizing that she has a mental health problem, O’Neal said.
“You can’t ask a mentally ill person to snap their fingers and be better,” he said. “She was still coming to grips with her disorder, but we were getting there.”
Bowden pointed out at the hearing that St. Clare obtained a mental health evaluation despite reservations. The $18,000 bill from the auditor’s office “made the issue a nonstarter,” he said.
There are hard costs associated with the investigation that can’t be waived, said Vicki Lubrin, who oversees the county’s animal control division.
The county was billed more than $13,000 by Everett’s animal shelter for impounding the animals, euthanizing and disposing of their remains. The county had to pay a veterinarian to examine the cats and a tow truck driver to haul off the travel trailer. The auditor’s office also is trying to recover about $3,300 for the time officers spent on the case.
A hearing is scheduled to determine how much restitution St. Clare will be ordered to pay. She will be charged 12 percent interest. It will be difficult for St. Clare to pay back any amount, especially now with her felony convictions, O’Neal said.
“Sometimes dealing with mentally illness and poverty costs the county money,” he said.
Diana Hefley: 425-339-3463; hefley@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @dianahefley.
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