Riverside County woman charged with 30 counts of animal cruelty
A Riverside County woman was charged with 30 counts of animal cruelty and failure to care for her dogs, authorities said Thursday.
Bernadette Mary Schwenn, 64, was charged with 10 felony counts and 20 misdemeanor counts stemming from an investigation that began in April at her Thousand Palms residence, the Riverside County district attorney’s office said.
Officers with the county’s Department of Animal Services allegedly discovered 30 dogs and puppies unattended and abandoned on the property. Some of the animals “were found to be either suffering or deceased,” authorities from the district attorney’s office said in a statement.
Schwenn, who was arrested Thursday, had previously been told or issued citations for allegedly failing to take care of her dogs, according to authorities.
“Yet she neglected to do so,” authorities said in the statement.
Schwenn has a separate pending misdemeanor animal cruelty case. She is scheduled to be arraigned Monday at the Larsen Justice Center in Indio.
Dist. Atty. Paul Zellerbach said his office “takes these types of situations seriously and will continue to vigorously prosecute cases of animal cruelty.”
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