Attorney: Tinley woman not to blame in animal cruelty case

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Updated: August 4, 2011 4:20PM

The animals that a Tinley Park woman is accused of neglecting and mistreating at her animal rescue facility were on the property without her permission, her attorney argued in court Friday.

Dawn Hamill, owner of Dazzle’s Painted Pastures, 5555 W. 175th St., faces eight counts of neglect of owner’s duties and three counts of cruel treatment, all misdemeanors.

Hamill’s attorney, Steven Decker, said after a hearing at the Markham courthouse that the violations stem from actions taken when another employee was put in charge of the facility for a few days while Hamill was out of town.

“The animals brought in without (Hamill’s) permission are the ones subject to the complaint,” Decker said, referring to a dead cat and miniature horse, and several animals that were deemed malnourished after they were found during a Feb. 11 raid of the property by Cook County sheriff’s police.

Decker also said the Illinois Department of Agriculture’s Bureau of Animal Health and Welfare made a surprise inspection Thursday at the sanctuary and found no violations. No one at the bureau was available Friday to confirm the claim.

Decker did not know how many animals still are at the sanctuary.

The raid was conducted after the sheriff’s police Animal Crimes Unit opened an investigation based on tips claiming conditions at the sanctuary had deteriorated. Investigators found animals living in barns, trailers and sheds that often were unheated, and animals that were without food and water.

Decker challenged those assertions after the hearing, saying that even after the raid, a sheriff’s police officer dropped a Labrador retriever with a bad ear infection off at the sanctuary.

“If it’s being run so poorly and she is someone with such improper judgment, would they have brought the animal there?” Decker said.

Some who attended the hearing said they bought animals from Painted Pastures and were upset with the pets’ conditions and that employees misinformed them.

April Stegman, 29, of Alsip, said she bought a kitten for herself and one for a friend, Jennifer Ferrentino, 20, of Hometown, about a year ago from Painted Pastures through PetSmart in Crestwood. She claimed she was told the kittens were 6 weeks old, but a veterinarian later told her the kittens were 3 weeks old and had ear mites and anemia from being flea-infested. Stegman said she had to spend $200 to have her house fumigated for fleas.

Stegman’s kitten survived, but Ferrentino’s died a few days after Stegman bought it. Ferrentino said she called Hamill about the kitten but that Hamill blamed Ferrentino for the death.

Hamill is next due in court May 24.