Plea in the works for alleged animal abuser

WASILLA — The legal fate of a Willow-area dog breeder facing 50 charges of cruelty to animals will have to wait another month.

Frank Rich was charged after Alaska State Troopers and the Mat-Su Borough found 22 dead dogs and seized 160 starving and malnourished dogs from Rich’s property Jan. 10. The cruelty charges stem from those found dead and the 28 animals that were in the worst condition when seized.

Rich, who originally pleaded not guilty to the charges, was scheduled for a change-of-plea hearing on Monday. That hearing has been rescheduled for Dec. 7. What Rich could be changing his plea to was not spelled out in court dockets; however, a deal seems to have been in the works for some time. Records show the parties notified the court of a change of plea on July 22. At that time, a hearing was set for Sept. 14, which was rescheduled for Oct. 31, then for Monday and again for Dec. 7.

Court records also show a 2007 conviction for Rich after a no-contest plea to a host of animal-related charges, including failure to meet kennel or cattery requirements, failure to re-register a kennel or cattery, failure to provide a sanitary enclosure and failure to restrain animals.

The volume of animals and scope of alleged cruelty found during the Jan. 10 seizure rallied local and state animal rescue groups, which raised more than $100,000 to help care for the seized animals. According to a trooper affidavit filed in the case, nearly every dog found on the property was sick, emaciated or dead. The remains of 16 deceased animals were found in a Conex shipping container and two more in the bed of a truck.

Although exactly what kind of plea arrangement Rich’s public defender is working out with prosecutors, local animal activists intend to send a clear message, said Angie Lewis, a board member for Palmer-based Alaska Dog and Puppy Rescue. Between local and national efforts, the group has gathered “about 6,000 to 7,000 signatures” on a petition urging the court to prosecute Rich “to the fullest extent of the law and never be allowed contact with dogs again,” she said.

The big-picture view is laws need to change to hold animal abusers more accountable for their crimes, Lewis said.

“But right now, we’re overwhelmed with dogs,” she said. “We are rescuing them from the shelter, all kinds of Bush communities. Right now, we have tons and tons and tons of puppies.”

Alaska Dog and Puppy Rescue took in many of Rich’s dogs, which put a big strain on the organization’s resources, Lewis said. Not only did they have health problems, many required special training and socialization.

“The ones I saw in our system were incredibly unsocialized, very underweight,” she said. “They had no concept of people at all. They required a great deal of training and socialization, and the bulk of them were not adoptable (at first).”

In addition to not being able to own dogs again, Lewis said she hopes part of Rich’s sentencing following a plea will include that he not be allowed contact with dogs whether he owns them or not.

To that end, Alaska Dog and Puppy Rescue plans to demonstrate at the courthouse Dec. 7, Lewis said. “We want to do everything we can for him not to be in the presence of a dog.”

At the time of his arrest, Rich said he quit his job in October 2010 and didn’t have enough money to feed the dogs, according to the affidavit. He said he fed the puppies first because he would sell them.

“I asked Rich how he thought those dogs had died,” Trooper Shayne Calt reports in his affidavit. “Rich stated that they either starved or froze to death.”

At the Mat-Su Borough Animal Care and Regulation Shelter, the sudden influx of dozens of sick dogs was a big strain, one that took months to get through, said Carol Vardeman, acting shelter manager. With the exception of dogs that had to be put down for medical reasons, all the adoptable dogs seized from Rich have found new homes, she said.

“They’re either adopted or fostered,” she said. “All the adoptable ones are gone. We have recovered a lot and the donations were so, so generous that we were able to (re-stock) the meds and the chewed-up kennels and everything, so materially, we’re back to ship-shape.”

The strain was also helped by an influx of new volunteers at the shelter, Vardeman said.

“That really helped,” she said. While the borough doesn’t want to see another large-scale case of animal cruelty, “it’s nice to know that should there be an emergency, we know that we can do it.”

Rich’s next court date is scheduled for 2:30 p.m., Dec. 7 at the Palmer Courthouse.

Contact Greg Johnson at greg.johnson@frontiersman.com or 352-2269.