That left her judge with little choice but to find Robards, 43, guilty of felony charges that carry punishment between probation and three years in prison. She’ll be sentenced Oct. 29.
Robards, formerly of Pekin, chose a stipulated bench trial to settle the case that began last November when her landlord found the dogs’ emaciated and skeletal remains in her rented home.
“She is not pleading guilty,” defense attorney Maureen Williams told Tazewell County Circuit Judge Paul Gilfillan. But Robards also did not present a defense against the evidence Assistant State’s Attorney Mike Holly recited to Gilfillan.
“Her actions were intentional,” Gilfillan concluded. While Robards “didn’t physically kill the dogs (with) some kind of weapon,” she did “by leaving them alone with no food or water” and no way out of the house.
Why she let them die remained unexplained, at least until her sentence hearing on two convictions of aggravated cruelty to a companion animal.
Holly said Loretta Joachim, Robards’ landlord, would have testified that Robards moved out of the house at 1509 Howard Court last July and lived with her for some time. Robards claimed she returned to the house “every day to care for the dogs,” and Joachim at the time “had reason to believe her,” Holly said.
Joachim had told Holly that Robards reported one of the dogs, a mixed breed named Sparkie, died of cancer and was buried in the home’s backyard. She said she saw the other dog, a mastiff puppy named Walker, with Robards once after Robards had moved from the Howard Court home.
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| RIP little puppy |
Joachim decided to visit the home on Nov. 24 after a neighbor reported seeing no lights on inside for weeks. She found Walker dead in the living room, walls damaged and animal waste strewn throughout the residence.
Police were called and soon arrested Robards. Five days later, Joachim returned to the house and found Sparkie’s remains under bedroom furniture. Both dogs “were basically skeletons with fur,” Holly told Gilfillan.
Robards, who listed a Peoria post office box as her most recent address, remains free on bond pending her sentencing.
(Pekin Times - Sept 8, 2015)
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