Woman faces year in
jail for pet neglect

She pleads no contest to
20 counts of cruelty to animals

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By Gary T. Kubota
gkubota@starbulletin.com

WAILUKU >> A Maui woman who kept 96 cats and dogs in poor condition at her Haiku residence has pleaded no contest to 20 counts of animal cruelty and could face up to 20 years in prison and a $40,000 fine.

Marlyn Jean Bermudez, 59, who works as a cook, is scheduled to be sentenced at 1:30 p.m. July 22, in Wailuku District Court.

Deputy Prosecutor Mark Simonds said the prosecution dropped 65 other charges but kept the 20 that it felt were the most serious.

Simonds said the prosecution also agreed to recommend that imprisonment should be no longer than a year.

Bermudez apologized but sometimes had difficulty responding to Wailuku District Judge Rhonda Loo. "I'm sorry. It's really hard, you know," she said.

Bermudez was released pending sentencing, with the agreement that she could have no more than three neutered dogs and three neutered cats at her residence.

Under an agreement, the Maui Humane Society will continue to make a weekly inspection at her home.

Humane Society workers removed 82 dogs and 14 cats on Jan. 4 , 2002, from her three-bedroom home at West Lelehuna Place in Haiku, including a dog in the hallway that apparently had been killed by other dogs.

Society officials said the floors in the house had dog feces and urine

The Maui Humane Society found a home for a cat and two dogs and four other dogs were transferred to an animal sanctuary in Utah.

The remaining 75 dogs and 13 cats, a number in poor health, were destroyed, according to the society.

Society animal control supervisor Aimee Anderson said her organization felt it had accomplished its goal of "accountability and protection."

Bermudez's attorney David Sereno declined to comment until sentencing.

Bermudez has said she kept the animals because she loved them and she was unable to keep up with their maintenance after they began breeding and multiplying.

The trial of Bermudez's husband Timothy, who also faces 85 counts of animal cruelty, is scheduled for April 25.