SNOHOMISH — Renee Roske watched with a surveillance camera as Snohomish County sheriff’s deputies and animal control officers swarmed her Snohomish property.
The first thing she did to prepare for the Jan. 17 raid: clean her cat-litter box.
“I did see them arrive at my house and remembered I hadn’t scooped the cat box yet! Just wanted to make sure everything was in order,” Roske wrote in an 11-page handwritten petition filed March 13 with the Snohomish County hearing examiner.
The Snohomish dog breeder is suspected of being at the center of a multimillion-dollar puppy mill. She is asking to have her kennel license reinstated. In the document, Roske challenged county claims that she’s violated codes dating back to 1996.
Roske, 44, wrote she never knowingly violated rules, broke no laws and has been unfairly targeted. She alleged county officials have gone out of their way to make her look bad.
During the raid, she said, she was ordered by deputies to drop what they believed was a weapon.
“I explained to the officer it was a cat poopie scooper,” Roske wrote.
Roske’s kennel license was revoked by Snohomish County on Feb. 3. She appealed on Feb. 17, but the hearing examiner dismissed that filing.
The March 13 petition is Roske’s latest effort.
“My license needs to be reinstated as soon as possible,” Roske wrote.
She said she misses Serena, a 16-year-old Yorkie; Romeo, a blond poodle, 13; and Hottie, a little red poodle.
“The 3 are best buddies and need to be returned to me,” she wrote.
Snohomish County animal control officers have not seized any dogs from Roske’s Snohomish home. They aren’t sure what dogs she’s demanding should be returned, county animal control manager Vicki Lubrin said.
Roske has been linked in court papers to a Gold Bar-area home where officials on Jan. 16 rescued more than 150 dogs living in squalor. The people believed to be responsible for watching the Gold Bar dogs face first-degree animal cruelty charges.
Roske has not been charged. Sheriff’s detectives continue to investigate Roske, spokeswoman Rebecca Hover said.
Roske has said the Gold Bar dogs weren’t hers.
The day after the Gold Bar raid, sheriff’s officials obtained a search warrant for Roske’s home. Detectives collected financial documents and suspected illegal drugs.
Officials did find 44 dogs, nearly twice the number allowed under county laws. None of those dogs were taken.
Roske disputes that 44 dogs were at her home, adding that animal control officers “had plenty of time to recount and be more accurate.”
Many of the dogs at Roske’s home during the raid belonged to relatives and friends, she wrote.
At the time of the raid, Roske said all dogs except one poodle were hers, Lubrin said. Two animal control officers photographed and documented each dog.
Skagit County officials in January seized about 450 dogs from Roske’s mother’s kennel near Mount Version. Roske’s mother and her husband face numerous animal cruelty charges in Skagit County.
Snohomish County records show that Roske’s business, Wags ‘n’ Wiggles, has a history of violations dating back to 1996, including a search about five years ago that turned up dogs in a small room, dug out of the dirt, its entrance hidden at the back of a closet.
Roske wrote earlier this month any additional dogs in her home were puppies or breeding dogs or belonged to other people and were only temporarily in her care. She said that she “was not trying to hide anything” in the underground room.
In 2004, a county hearing examiner gave Roske “one last chance” but warned any further violations would be grounds for “automatic revocation” of her kennel license, county records show.
The hearing examiner has until Friday to take action, either approving the latest petition, denying it or seeking more information.
Reached by phone Monday, Roske said her petition speaks for itself and that her attorney advised her not to talk to reporters.
Jackson Holtz: 425-339-3437, jholtz@heraldnet.com.
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