Landlord charged with animal cruelty.

This happened in Richmond, CA. Which is not too far from me. My friend brought this article from the paper in for me at work today. I sat and cried while I read it. There are some pictures (nothing graphic) in the article.

http://www.contracostatimes.com/bay-...ws/ci_14335107

Richmond landlord charged in attack that nearly killed tenant's small dog


Chocolate, batwing ears perked slightly beneath the oversized plastic cone sheathing Taz's head. Dewy, sightless eyes bulged in fright as the 9-pound miniature pinscher strained to place the large things moving just a few feet away -- friend or foe?
Saul Hernandez forgives his beloved pet's sudden insecurity, and his squeals of pain when he chews once-coveted treats. And how he now runs into walls. And he forgives him for the monolithic vet bill, which led to the overdrawn checking account.

But what does etiquette dictate when someone, without obvious procovation, smashes in your dog's head with a tree branch?

"I don't know what I'm going to say to her," said Hernandez, clutching the shivering pup in his Richmond living room. "That's the thing. Rent is due. But I feel like she's put us in this situation."

Contra Costa County prosecutors charged Hernandez's landlord, 65-year-old Sharon Sayler, with two felony counts of animal cruelty Wednesday, saying she nearly beat Taz to death last week in the backyard of her four-plex, then left him in a cinched garbage bag inside her car's trunk overnight before attempting to dump him.

"She just didn't like him," said Richmond Detective Sgt. Lori Curran, normally tasked with murder and robbery investigations. "She didn't really express why."

Sayler, who declined a jailhouse interview request, calmly and politely discussed with Curran how, in her own words, she "beat his little head in" with a cut, 4-inch diameter section of tree branch, but couldn't easily articulate why.

Sayler lives on one end of a tidy row of four attached apartments across the street from City Hall, in the North and East neighborhood. The Hernandez family lives on the opposite end, sharing a fenced backyard with her and the other tenants. Both Saul and girlfriend Felicia Minor commute; she to San Leandro and he to a sink-manufacturing job in Pittsburg. Kids Rio, 2, and 1-year-old Sienna, go to a nearby relative's home during the day.

About 6 a.m. Jan. 28, the family bundled up the kids and hustled out the door. Saul let the dogs in the yard, as he does every morning. Only when they returned home that evening about 8 p.m., fresh from Sienna's first birthday party, did the couple discover that they'd miscommunicated, and nobody let the dogs back in.

They quickly found their Chihuahua, Franky, in the yard, but no Taz. They asked the neighbors, who saw nothing.

Hernandez remembers seeing his landlord unloading groceries. He thought it odd that she darted inside as they pulled up, leaving some of her bags on the stoop.

"It was weird, because I went over and knocked on her door, but she wouldn't open it," Hernandez said. "She just talked through the peephole."

After circuitous conversation, she told him she had "disposed of him." Incredulous, he asked what happened. She simply asked how much the dog was worth to him, and walked a way a few minutes later.

Hernandez called the police, but Sayler would not answer the officer's knock, Curran said. He took a theft report and left, advising the family to check with the local animal shelters.

"The hardest part was Friday morning," Hernandez said. "Rio is really attached to Taz. He came downstairs and started crying and screaming. 'Daddy, where's Taz?' "

Daddy didn't know. The family glumly packed up for another day of work, but Saul lasted less than an hour before realizing he was too preoccupied to last the day. So he drove home, checking with animal shelters and canvassing the neighborhood in search of Taz.

He stopped at a gas station at San Pablo and McBryde avenues about 2 p.m. Before filling up, he saw Sayler's blue Ford Taurus drive past, heading east on McBryde. He jumped in his car and followed her up the hill to a trailhead for Wildcat Canyon Regional Park.

Hernandez watched her don rubber gloves. "She opened the trunk. I saw a green recycling bin with a plastic bag in it."

Hernandez called to her, and she closed her trunk, got back in her car and drove away. He followed her, on a looping, half-hour chase through the region, on the phone with police dispatchers most of the way. Eventually she parked in a rear lot at Doctor's Medical Center San Pablo and speed-walked inside.

Police arrived, and received permission from their supervisors to open the trunk. Inside the twist-tied plastic bag they found a near-lifeless dog.

"His face was all swollen," Hernandez said, "and his eye was bulging out. It looked like a ball of blood."

Felicia had arrived by then, and they rushed Taz to an emergency vet in Berkeley, whose preliminary report indicated "malicious head trauma and attempted suffocation" as the source of the dog's ailing. The couple spent thousands to keep Taz alive, but took him home against the vet's advice because they ran out of money.

Police towed Sayler's car but could not find her. She walked home, Curran later learned, when she appeared in the Police Department lobby to leave a message for an officer who called over the weekend. Curran arrested her on the spot.

Hernandez still doesn't know the extent of Taz's neurological damage. He is at least partially blind, and he no longer barks.

Taz's tail wagged, feebly, for the first time Wednesday.

"His spirit is broken," Hernandez said. "I don't know what we're going to do."

Personally, I think they should not have to pay rent until it matches the cost of Taz's vet bills. :mad::mad::mad:

Jebus, poor dog!! :(:(:(

I hope the little thing can at least learn to trust his family again, but I doubt he'll ever be the same dog again.

I hope this news story will encourage members of the public who can to donate to help out.

And that "landlord" should pay the bulk of the vet treatment. I hope she loses her position and is put away! God...what would she do to any living thing, human or otherwise, if she 'doesn't know why she did this'.

What happens the next time she doesn't like something ... like a child or an elderly person?

If I was in charge of the world, she would get a one-way trip to the electric chair.

That these poor people would even have to think about paying rent? OMG. They ought to live there rent-free until the value equals their vet bills, plus a tidy sum for pain and suffering. Of course, who would want to live there anymore? I'd move and sue.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Catty1

I hope this news story will encourage members of the public who can to donate to help out.

And that "landlord" should pay the bulk of the vet treatment. I hope she loses her position and is put away! God...what would she do to any living thing, human or otherwise, if she 'doesn't know why she did this'.

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Actually, my friends mom contacted the paper and wanted to make a donation. I wish I could, but I have too many bills right now. :(

It really broke my heart even more when I saw his name is Taz. Poor baby. I want to go beat that lady with a tree branch really bad. And then put her in a plastic bag in my trunk for several hours, heck maybe even days!

Wow the electric chair is to good for that scum.

They should sue the woman for not only the vet bill but for a move and deposits on another apartment. She wouldn't get another penny out of me. That poor sweet dog. He must have been so frightened while she beat him and I don't see how he'll ever trust again. He's probably going to be afraid of everything for the rest of his life.

Amen Taz Zoee!!!!!

Ba$tard!! May she rot in hell!!:mad::mad:

Quote:

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Ba$tard!! May he rot in hell!!

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Donna, I agree - but the perp is the landLADY.

I tried to find an update on this yesterday. The only thing I could find was that the landlord was released and told to return at a later date for a hearing. She was ordered to not step foot at the property where the incident took place. So she's staying at another one of her properties.
I also heard from someone, I couldn't find it in print, that the family does not have to pay rent and I think they are moving. That's going to be even more stress on poor little Taz. But it's better for everyone. They still aren't sure if Taz is going to make it. His neurological damage has not been completely assessed yet. With being beat in the head then cinched in a plastic bag over night, that's a lot for such a tiny little guy. :(
They have received several donations helping with his medical costs.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Catty1

Donna, I agree - but the perp is the landLADY.

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Yes, a 65 year old woman.

WOW, I cannot believe what I just read. I feel so bad for Taz, the family, and even poor Franky. Imagine him seeing his "brother" get beat up like that? :( I am so glad she didn't get to him to! I hope the family gets back on their feet soon in a new SAFE house.

Poor little Taz. I will pray that he will make it. Poor thing. Just so sad. I hope this women loses her property.

http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_14383681

Judge releases Richmond dog-beating suspect
Apartment complex landlord accused of injuring tenant's pet ordered to stay away from property
By Karl Fischer
Contra Costa Times
Posted: 02/11/2010 03:10:42 PM PST
Updated: 02/12/2010 06:33:04 AM PST

A Richmond landlord accused of beating her tenant's miniature pinscher with a tree branch left West County Jail on Thursday with orders to return for her next court date and stay away from her rental property.

Sharon Sayler, 65, pleaded not guilty to two felony charges of animal cruelty in connection with a Jan. 28 attack that left the 9-pound dog, Taz, brain damaged. Police arrested Sayler Feb. 1.

Detectives said they did not know why Sayler would club Taz more than 10 times with a cut section of tree branch in the backyard she shared with his owner, other than she told detectives she did not like the dog.

Contra Costa County Superior Court Judge Peter Berger ordered Sayler released on her own recognizance Thursday, with orders to return to court next month. He also ordered her to stay away from the four-plex near Richmond City Hall that she shares with the dog's owner and other tenants.

A deputy public defender who represented Sayler said she planned to stay at property she owns in Siskiyou County.

Taz's family left him in the backyard the morning of Jan. 28 with their other dog; Taz was gone when they returned. Police say Sayler admitted to owner Saul Hernandez through her front-door peephole that she "disposed" of the dog, but would not elaborate.

Hernandez followed her to Wildcat Canyon Regional Park the next morning and saw her put on gloves and get a plastic trash bag out of her trunk. When she noticed him, she led him
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on a half-hour chase that ended in the parking lot of Doctor's Medical Center in San Pablo, police said.

Officers opened the trunk there and found the almost-dead dog inside the bag. They say he sat in the cinched bag overnight inside the trunk.

Hernandez and his family exhausted their finances keeping Taz alive, but dozens of checks from concerned community members have poured in to help.

"He still runs into walls," Hernandez said this week. "We're still not sure if he's going to be completely OK. We need to wait a few weeks to see."

Taz has brain damage, but the limits of his cognitive ability and its long-term effects remain unknown.

"We would just like everyone to know how grateful we are for their support," Hernandez said. "People are really nice."