Trixe McCowin, 42, of the 3300 block Country Club Drive in Montville Township, is charged with criminal trespass, animal abandonment and two counts of animal cruelty, all misdemeanors.
Medina Municipal Judge Dale H. Chase will decide the case.
Attorney Mike Callow, representing McCowin, said the case hinges on the testimony of one witness, Carmen Martorello of Brook Park.
Martorello testified Tuesday he was in the Applebee’s parking lot, 1421 Town Center Blvd., Brunswick, on Nov. 13, 2015.
Martorello said he observed a “blinged out” yellow Hummer with “lots of chrome” circle the parking lot twice before the driver placed an animal kennel in the middle of the lot and drove away. He described the female driver as “petite” with “dishwater blonde” hair.
Three Persian kittens about 7 months old were in a carrier and they were dirty and ill, according to a Brunswick police report. The kittens were turned over to the Medina County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
Medina veterinarian Kelly Parker testified Tuesday that she provided care for the kittens that appeared to be “suffering” and in “horrible condition.”
She indicated their fur was matted and they had upper respiratory infections.
One kitten had its infected eye removed and another was euthanized because of its condition, she said.
“There have only been two cases in my 25 years (in practice) that have been this bad,” Parker testified.
Brunswick Humane Officer Mike Kellens testified the department received a tip from Montville police about McCowin because her vehicle matched the description and she operates an online cat-breeding business, Pure Royalty Persians, out of her home.
Online, McCowin advertises five different types of Persian kittens for sale.
Kathleen Marshall, Medina County SPCA humane officer at the time, testified she met with McCowin approximately five days after the incident because McCowin was a known Persian breeder in the area.
Marshall said she asked McCowin if she was familiar with the kittens or where they may have been sold or bought.
Marshall testified she showed McCowin pictures and McCowin told her the kittens "appeared" to be from her breed line but that they were not bred at her home.
The county SPCA filed the cruelty charge in February. Other charges were filed by Brunswick police in December.
In 2011, the state filed for a sales tax lien against McCowin, then known as Trixxe Conn-Kirtley. She also was fined for disorderly conduct in 2009.
In 2013, she was fined and placed on probation following an arrest on charges of theft and criminal trespass, according to court records.
(Medina Gazette - Nov 30, 2016)
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