Battle flares in Lancaster over puppy-mill case

An effort involving a borrowed jet to retrieve suspected puppy-mill dogs taken from Lancaster to Ohio, with plans to charge their alleged abusers, has turned into a battle of high-profile prosecutors past and present.

In early October, a Philadelphia-area rescue group dispatched the plane to pick up sick dogs with the intent that Pennsylvania breeders would be prosecuted. The Pennsylvania SPCA charged six, all in Lancaster County, with animal cruelty.

Now those charges have been dropped, in a spat between the Lancaster County prosecutor and a PSPCA lawyer.

District Attorney Craig Stedman said the PSPCA had dropped the case after meeting Dec. 21 with one of his deputies.

Sue Cosby, executive director of the PSPCA, said Stedman had told her that, after a review, he decided he could not prosecute the cases and recommended that the PSPCA drop them.

Without his support, Cosby said, the organization had no choice, even though she believed the evidence supported the charges.

A PSPCA attorney who is a former state Supreme Court justice and former Chester County district attorney said Stedman had told his client to drop the charges or he would have them dismissed.

"I think it's outrageous," William Lamb said in an interview last week. "What's being ignored is that animals were abused, and people spent thousands to bring these charges. Why would Stedman treat this so cavalierly?"

Stedman, whose county is the dog-breeding hub of the state, sees more kennel-related cruelty cases than any other district attorney. He said the PSPCA had not followed protocol when it filed its charges in various district justice offices without his permission.

"They kept us out of the loop and surreptitiously filed charges," Stedman said in an interview Wednesday. "Bill Lamb is not a member of law enforcement and not a special prosecutor. The best way to handle cases is to work with our office. We're the legal experts."

Stedman decided the case himself, Lamb said.

On Oct. 7, a group of animal-welfare advocates and a veterinarian flew to the auction in southeast Ohio on a jet owned by a friend of a board member of Main Line Animal Rescue, based in Chester Springs. Their goal: Find sick animals among the nearly 400 purebred dogs from Pennsylvania that were to be sold by kennels downsizing or going out of business as a result of the state's more stringent kennel law.

After a veterinarian picked out 12 dogs she believed to be in the poorest health, the animals were purchased and brought back.

The breeders' attorney, Jeffrey Conrad, a former Lancaster County prosecutor, said Thursday that he was pleased charges had been dropped and called the PSPCA's assault on "innocent" kennel operators a form of "malicious prosecution to raise contributions."

But Lamb and a veterinarian said there was ample evidence of abuse to present in court.

Cari Thomson, the vet who went to the auction, said that she had later examined eight dogs and that six had severe periodontal disease and several had serious skin and ear infections.

She said their conditions had constituted "gross neglect."

Main Line Animal Rescue racked up $30,000 in vet bills treating the 12 dogs, founder Bill Smith said.

Conrad said his clients' dogs had been checked by a veterinarian before leaving the state and at the auction.

"They had a perfect bill of health," he said. "The assertion that these dogs were in any way treated cruelly is an utter lie."

Stedman said that, had the cases gone to trial, it might have been a "death warrant" for hundreds of dogs at other breeders fearing charges.

That would be a ridiculous reason not to try a case, Lamb said.

"That's like not prosecuting members of a motorcycle gang because it might precipitate more violence," he said. "The message we hoped to send is that you don't abuse dogs."

The spat has turned political.

Lamb, a well-connected Republican, said he was so angry that he vowed to try to unseat Stedman, a fellow Republican, who took office in 2008.

"I am committed to seeing D.A. Stedman is a one-term D.A.," said Lamb. "I understand puppy mills are big business, but the people of Lancaster County need to ask themselves, 'What is going on here?' "

Stedman said he was unaware that Lamb was upset with him, but added that he had every intent to continue to fight animal cruelty in Lancaster County, with or without the PSPCA.