Arizona: Kathleen Tempel charged with two counts of child abuse, 26 counts of animal abuse

ARIZONA -- A Chandler woman arrested about a year ago for hoarding multiple dogs in a feces-filled home was charged recently with two counts of child abuse and 26 counts of animal abuse, according to authorities.

Kathleen Tempel, 44, was charged in Maricopa County Superior Court on Feb. 17, said Maricopa County Attorney’s Office spokesman Jerry Cobb.

Tempel was arrested nearly a year ago after a Chandler police officer discovered the living conditions of the home, near Dobson and Elliot roads, authorities said.

Shortly before 1 a.m. on March 2, 2015, an officer was dispatched to Tempel’s home in response to a complaint about barking dogs. As Tempel stepped outside her home, the officer detected a foul smell from the inside, according to the police report.

Tempel told the officer she could not hear the dogs barking because she was hearing-impaired and that the dogs were probably just excited because she had returned from Flagstaff with three more dogs, which could be seen in the back of her vehicle, according to the police report.

When the officer asked how many more dogs Tempel owned, she told the officer she had four in the house and four in the backyard. But when the officer looked in the backyard, he reported seeing nine dogs.

When Tempel could not sufficiently answer why she had lied about the number of dogs she had, the officer asked to look inside her house. Inside, he found 13 dogs in the front area of the house, according to the police report. One dog was bleeding from the face, and another small dog was severely malnourished, with its ribs and shoulder bones showing through the skin, the report said.

There were also two boys inside on a damaged, dirty couch with some of the dogs, the report said.

According to the report, feces — some fresh and some dried — covered the floor of the house, from the kitchen to the bathroom. In addition, the hallway, kitchen and front of the home showed signs of urine and blood, and some of the feces were covered in a white substance thought to be mold.

When shown one of the boys’ bedrooms, the officer noted in the report that the floor of that room was also covered in feces and the room had a broken wooden bed frame with no mattress. The master bedroom lacked a bed frame or mattress and contained another feces-covered floor and two large dog cages, one of which held a large brown dog, the report said.

Through speaking with the boys, the officer learned that they had not had beds since December 2014 and that they would instead sleep on the couch with their mother. The officer also found out that Tempel did not feed them every night. One son felt it was not OK to live in the house as it was, but the other felt it was normal, the report said.

Tempel told the officer she was a volunteer for the animal rescue group Crazy Pit Bull Lady, which the officer confirmed by phone with someone from the organization. Tempel told the officer she felt it was acceptable to have 26 dogs; one of the sons told the officer he sometimes felt in danger from the dogs, the report said.

Tempel was arrested that day on charges of child abuse. Her sons were temporarily left in the care of Tempel’s adult daughter, police said.

(AZ Central - Feb 23, 2016)