Sabrina Harding, 23, and Jake Brousseau, 24, were arrested Wednesday on a single charge of animal cruelty after animal control officers found 46 animals in Harding's apartment at 596 S. Second St. — half the animals were dead and the other half badly malnourished. Some of the dead animals were caged with live ones.
After hearing from a court clinician, Judge Joseph I. Macy ordered Harding held on $500 cash bail. If she is able to make the bail, she is not to possess any animals, according to the conditions of her release. She also cannot leave the state and must report to her probation officer weekly.
Macy set $1,000 cash bail on her boyfriend and co-defendant, Brousseau, in part because he has family ties to Rhode Island. Brousseau is forbidden to be in contact with animals if he makes bail.
Prosecutor John Hendrie had requested $5,000 bail for both defendants because of the ties to Rhode Island. He had asked for the pair to have no involvement with animals if they make bail.
On Thursday, the city's director of animal control said there was a strong stench of dead and decaying animals coming from inside the apartment.
Manny Maciel estimated that some of the animals had been dead for more than a week. They had no food or water, and many were living in their own filth, he said.
After District Court Judge James McGovern saw the photos of the squalor on Thursday, he ordered mental health exams for both defendants.
Forensic psychiatarist Charlotte Denton, who examined Harding and Brousseau, told the judge that in her opinion they were both competent to stand trial.
In the case of Harding, who has no criminal record, the court felt it was appropriate to continue to hold follow-up meetings on her competency for trial, according to Ashley L. Bendiksen, a spokeswoman for the Bristol County District Attorney's office. Recently, Harding's former home burned down and she lost a lot of her belongings, Denton told the judge.
"She has been quite depressed," Denton said, adding she did not know if it had "affected her behavior... but there is a possibility it did."
More information also came to light about Brousseau.
His defense attorney, Rene Brown, said he worked two jobs, one as a dishwasher at a local restaurant and as a pizza delivery man. Since his arrest he has lost the jobs, she said, and "he has received death threats in the House of Correction," she said, as well as on social media.
Brown said Brousseau "did not claim ownership of the animals."
The prosecution disputed that.
Reading from the police report on the night of the arrest, Hendrie said when Brousseau arrived at the South Second Street home, he said, "I can't believe they took all of our animals."
(Fall River Herald News - Jun 24, 2015)
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