New Haven Register story on Jay Baldwin
Alleged cat abuser back in hot water
By Lauren Garrison, Register Staff
Jay Baldwin, a former Ansonia resident who was arrested for allegedly abusing cats but was released in December to a supervised program for people with psychiatric disabilities, was re-arrested Wednesday night for failing to appear at his program.
Baldwin was arraigned Thursday in Superior Court in Derby on a charge of failure to appear, and is being held on $10,000 bail, according to Public Defender Jonathan Gable. Gable represented Baldwin from August 2008, when he was arrested by Ansonia police on 10 counts of animal cruelty, until his release in December, and said he will now represent Baldwin again.
Gable declined to provide details about the new failure to appear charge. A staff member at the court clerk’s office said she had no public record of Baldwin’s case.
Gable said Baldwin will next appear in court April 23.
According to Shelton Detective Sgt. Kevin Ahern, Shelton police picked up Baldwin Wednesday night on a paperless re-arrest warrant, or PRAWN, from Ansonia police and charged him with second-degree failure to appear. Baldwin was held overnight, unable to post bail.
Ansonia Police Lt. Wayne Williams said his department issued the PRAWN warrant March 18. Williams declined to explain the exact reason for the re-arrest, but said that Ansonia police had not investigated any new complaints against Baldwin since his August 2008 arrest.
Under the two-year program, Baldwin was to be supervised by a probation officer, an employee of the state Department of Developmental Services and staff from Birmingham Group Health Services, Gable explained last winter. Gable said Baldwin had agreed to follow a program of treatment and medication designed for him, and that supervised housing and vocational training would be arranged for him. Someone would check in with Baldwin at least once a week, Gable said.
In granting the program for Baldwin in December, Judge Karen Nash Sequino ordered him to live in a supervised environment, cooperate with Birmingham’s directions, take medication as prescribed, and not possess any domestic or feral animals. She explained that if Baldwin failed to comply with the program, he would have to return to court and could face up to 10 years in prison.
A group of animal rights advocates who followed Baldwin’s case in court were dismayed by Sequino’s decision to release him. On Thursday, they were elated to hear he was back in jail.
“It was only a matter of time before (Baldwin) slipped up again,” said Donna Ploss of East Hartford. “We just didn’t think it would be so soon.”
Her comments were echoed by Irene Hudobenko of Ansonia, who adopted out to Baldwin the kittens he was accused of harming.
Hudobenko said she was happy to hear Baldwin was re-arrested “because I know this guy has to get off the streets. I just really hope that the judge does right this time. (Sequino) specified to him, ‘If you break your probation, you are looking at 10 years jail time.’ I am really hoping that her word is good.”
Ploss noted she and other animal rights advocates plan to write to the new state legislature to try to change the law to make animal cruelty a mandatory felony. Under the current law, the judge and prosecuting attorney have the discretion to treat the charge as a felony.
