A Persian cat breeder’s animal cruelty charges are related to earlier charges filed against the woman accused of leaving three cats in a Brunswick parking lot, according to a Wednesday decision by Medina Municipal Judge Dale H. Chase.
Chase approved joining Trixxe McCowin’s two active Medina Municipal Court cases into one trial.
“Allegedly, the factual circumstances and offenses are essentially part of a continued pattern of conduct,” Chase said.
McCowin, 42, of Montville Township, faced charges of animal abandonment and criminal trespass after police found three cats in a restaurant parking lot on Town Center Boulevard last November.
In early February, a new case against McCowin involving animal cruelty charges was filed in Medina Municipal Court. McCowin has plead not guilty to all charges, which are misdemeanors.
Prosecuting attorney Jeff Holland said the animal cruelty charges are based on a veterinarian’s report regarding the examination of the three cats. The report’s slow turnover time caused the delay, he said.
“It took some time to get a report from the veterinarian,” Holland said.
The cats found in the parking lot were dirty and ill, according to a police report. One was euthanized and another needed an eye removed because of an infection, humane officer Kate Marshall told police. Marshall is with the Medina County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
“The veterinarian’s opinion is it would have taken a period of time for the neglect to get to this point,” Holland said in court.
The violation date for the animal cruelty charges was listed as Oct. 1, in court documents — about a month and a half before the Nov. 13 discovery of the cats in the parking lot.
A witness told police he saw a woman in a yellow Hummer stop her car, place a small animal kennel in the parking lot and drive away, according to a report. Holland said the eyewitness and security video helped Brunswick Animal Control Officer Mike Kellum, who investigated the case, link McCowin to the cage.
Holland said neither he nor McCowin’s attorney, Colin Meeker, had received any security videos related to the incident from police.
Chase warned that the restaurant at Town Center Boulevard might record over the tapes and urged Holland to request the tapes from the restaurant.
“If these videos are lost because no one has actually bothered to go out and get them, I would find that disturbing,” Chase said.
The date for McCowin’s next appearance in Medina Municipal Court had not been set as of Wednesday afternoon.