Animal control seizes 6 more dogs after third raid of Halethorpe woman’s home

Baltimore County Police and animal control officers raided a Halethorpe home for the third time in a year Wednesday morning and seized six dogs from a woman who is facing multiple counts of animal cruelty.

Animal control officers removed the dogs — three puppies and three adult dogs — from the home as Klein sobbed. Baltimore County Animal Services Director René Varela said the dogs were a mix of pit bulls, St. Bernard and Great Pyrenees.

Klein, 52, was on probation for previous offenses. Police also removed her from her home.

A year ago, prosecutors charged her with 328 counts of animal-related offenses, among them neglect and cruelty, after a raid of her home revealed she was keeping 82 animals in squalid conditions, including two pigs in her basement.

A judge sentenced her on Feb. 3 to a year of probation and allowed her to have a role in rehoming the animals, though she was to have no contact with them herself, except for four she was allowed to keep.

On Feb. 20, animal control officers again arrived at her Francis Avenue home and seized 42 animals that Klein was supposed to rehome. Friends and family members had simply driven the dogs, birds, reptiles and cats to her house instead of finding other places for them to live.

Because of that raid, a grand jury indicted Klein last week on 170 additional animal cruelty charges. Klein was out on bail pending those charges when police received word that she again had dogs in the residence.

Klein has told The Baltimore Banner in an email that she has mental health issues that are responsible for her hoarding, but that she never intentionally harmed any animals.

Her lawyer in the original case, Larry Greenberg, declined to comment. She has a public defender for the newer charges from last month, but no one was listed in court documents.

On Monday, the Baltimore County Council passed several laws aimed at reforming animal welfare, some of which stemmed from this case. Klein had a probation violation hearing scheduled for Tuesday, but Greenberg requested and was given a postponement. She is slated to be back in court next month on the other charges.

Klein initially had asked the county to compensate her for the loss of her animals’ value, but she has given up those claims as well as the rights to any of the animals taken in previous raids.