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Somers animal mistreatment case, woman faces 15 charges
They found the inside of the house covered in moldy feces, maggots, and trash. That is the environment police say a Town of Somers woman kept her pets in.
TOWN OF SOMERS, Wis. - They found the inside of the house covered in moldy feces, maggots, and trash. That is the environment police say a Town of Somers woman kept her pets in.
Hazardous conditions
What we know:
According to a criminal complaint, when a welfare check last Friday brought an officer and a crisis team member to the house near the intersection of 7th and 13th Street, the conditions were described as disgusting and hazardous.
It was where her one dog, three cats, five horses and one alpaca were.
Inside the house, the dogs and cats were in areas covered with "mold-covered animal feces along the floors and stairways, uncleaned litter boxes, swarms of flies and insects, maggots, and trash strewn throughout."
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No food was found to be available to them.
The four were taken from the house for care.
In the stables, the area with the horses and alpaca had "a substantial" amount of feces.
15 charges
What we know:
The woman allegedly responsible, Lauren Madsen, was living on the property rent-free with the responsibility of taking care of the livestock.
Her sister was the one who made the welfare call.
Madsen is facing 15 various charges related to animal mistreatment. She entered a not-guilty plea in court Thursday.
Lauren Madsen
One neighbor, Jennifer Swartz, said there were no signs of this issue. She even knew the old caretaker.
"We've had no idea what's been going on there," Swartz said. "When we drive by, we never see the horses out anymore. I have seen no one coming or going. I see a car, but we've really seen no activity."
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The officer arrested Madsen at that point because of the conditions the animals were in.
According to the criminal complaint, she also showed severe signs of intoxication during the welfare check. She later took a breathalyzer test that registered a breath alcohol concentration of 0.313.
She will be in court again on Sep. 11. Madsen had her signature bond set for $7,500. She was given a no contact order for animals in general.
Portions of this article were formatted using A.I. FOX6's Ben Hanson and an editor reviewed it for accuracy and tone prior to publishing.
The Source: Information in this story was gathered from the Kenosha County Sheriff’s Office, a criminal complaint, Kenosha County court proceedings and neighbor Jennifer Swartz.