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ST. CLAIRSVILLE -- A mother and daughter were arraigned Thursday for allegedly hoarding animals in their home, reportedly leading to poor living conditions and even death for some of the animals.
Paula Metzler, 55, and Kristi Metzler, 30, of 100 Fair Ave., Quaker City, Ohio, were arraigned Thursday afternoon and each pleaded innocent to six fifth-degree felony counts of causing serious physical harm to companion animals, one first-degree misdemeanor count of child endangerment and 13 second-degree misdemeanor charges of animal abuse.
The Belmont County Hoof & Paw humane agency recently removed a dozen animals from their property and found dead animals there as well.
A preliminary hearing is set for Tuesday afternoon before Belmont County Western Division Judge Eric Costine.
The Metzlers' bonds were reduced to $5,000 each. They are to have no contact with animals or the individual involved in the alleged child-endangering case, Paula Metzler's 19-year-old daughter.
Belmont County Assistant Prosecutor Joseph Vavra said the younger daughter has a disability and is living with other relatives. He said the child endangerment charge stemmed from the living conditions at the house.
Vavra said this case will likely go to the felony-level common pleas court.
"We're still collecting evidence and it's still under investigation, but as it stands right now they are charged with multiple felony violations of Goddard's Law," he said, referring to the statute that raises serious cases of animal abuse to the felony level. "If we believe we have the evidence to support those, then we will be going to grand jury."
Vavra said Paula Metzler has a prior animal cruelty conviction in Belmont County from a 2019 case.
She was sentenced in 2021 and had been banned from owning animals.
"She did have a ban for a period of time. That time did lapse before this," Vavra said.
The court gave care of the 12 living animals taken from the Metzler residence to Belmont County Hoof & Paw. The Metzlers will pay for the care of the animals.
Julie Larish, humane agent with Hoof & Paw, showed probable cause that the group took the animals for a good reason.
"We have a total of 12 animals that we took alive and multiple animals we took dead," Larish said. "(Costine) gave us custody of all the animals."
The Metzlers were ordered to pay $2,200 for the next 30 days for the care of the animals.
"We can't find homes for them yet until the end of the court case," Larish said.
She added that the case is complicated because the Metzlers own property in both Belmont and Guernsey counties and she believes they have been using that situation to move animals from Belmont to Guernsey County.
"It's still an ongoing investigation for us, because we have multiple agencies involved," she said, adding that the group is working with the Belmont and Guernsey County Sheriff's offices and the Guernsey County dog warden. "We still have some ongoing loose ends that we're investigating. ... We're making sure we don't have animals at multiple locations and it's between the two counties. They have notoriously done this over the years."
Larish said the women seem determined to have animals.
"This is a repeat, a serial offender, so I'm being contacted by people who have prosecuted her in the past. They're wanting to give us more information so that we can prove that this is a serial offender," Larish said.
She discussed the care the animals are receiving.
"The two poodles are hanging on. We're feeding them multiple times a day to get their stomachs used to food," she said. "The other ones seem to be turning around, but all of them actually have something going on with their intestinals because they all have diarrhea. They all are having issues with eating, but they are getting better."
Hoof & Paw can be reached at 610-314-5203, through the Hoof & Paw Facebook page, or through BCHP Inc. on Facebook.