Wall’s attorney: Stealing concept ‘ridiculous’

O.B. animal control
officer was suspended
without pay last week
By sue m. morgan
Staff Writer

OLD BRIDGE — A veteran township animal control officer and her husband were scheduled to face charges of animal cruelty in Marlboro Township Municipal Court yesterday after Monmouth County authorities found as many as five Yorkshire terriers in their care that allegedly showed signs of neglect and endangerment.

Jenny-Lyn Wall, 44, and her husband, Steve Wall, 58, both of the Morganville section of Marlboro, were scheduled to appear in municipal court at 5 p.m. yesterday to face criminal and civil charges filed by the Monmouth County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA), according to Stuart Goldman, the agency’s chief humane enforcement officer.

The Walls are charged with five counts each of failure to provide proper veterinary care for the five dogs, Goldman said. They could both face six months in jail and fines up to $1,000 on each of the five criminal charges, he added.

The couple could also be fined $250 apiece for each of the five civil charges, Goldman said.

In addition, Jenny-Lyn Wall has been suspended without pay from her job at the municipally run kennel since Friday, after she failed to appear for an administrative hearing on theft charges scheduled for the previous day in Old Bridge, according to Township Attorney William Ruggierio.

Wall was charged with third-degree theft on Dec. 13 after police from both Old Bridge and Marlboro, accompanied by officials from the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office, recovered more than $50,000 worth of pet supplies allegedly moved from the municipal kennel to her Texas Road home and her Cottrell Road dog-grooming business.

Authorities hauled away enough pet food, medications and other supplies to fill four or five large trucks in the separate raids on Wall’s home and business, which altogether ran nearly 14 hours on Dec. 13, police said.

Five Yorkshire terriers, which were reportedly found cramped into cages at the Walls’ home, were also seized in the raid by SPCA officials, who were summoned to the scene by police. Because the dogs exhibited fevers, worms and bleeding, as well as fur matting that allegedly impaired movement, they were taken to an unnamed Monmouth County veterinarian, Goldman said.

"Those animals were in need of care," Goldman said last week.

The cruelty charges are based on the alleged poor physical conditions of the five dogs at the Walls’ home, Goldman said.

The five dogs were inside four smaller cages within one larger cage inside the home, Goldman said.

While one dog had an ear infection, all had lost large amounts of hair and were in dire need of grooming, Goldman said.

"Their age could not be determined because their teeth are in such bad condition," Goldman noted.

The Walls were also ordered by authorities to place a rottweiler in their care into a larger cage, Goldman said.

However, they were not charged with any offenses relating to the rottweiler. That dog and five otter hounds remain in their care, he confirmed.

"(The rottweiler) was OK, but way too big for the cage," Goldman said.

Jenny-Lyn Wall, who also privately owns a dog grooming business, It’s a Dog’s Life, on Cottrell Road in Old Bridge, had scheduled the five Yorkshire terriers for grooming in the near future, according to Joseph Benedict, her New Brunswick-based attorney.

"The Yorkies were to be groomed," Benedict said.

His client was in the process of arranging for veterinary care as well, Benedict said, but she found that many veterinarians’ schedules conflicted with her own.

"Jenny-Lyn has been trying to get a vet to go out (to her home)," Benedict said.

The Walls have cared for the Yorkshire terriers, which previously belonged to Jenny-Lyn Wall’s mother, for "several years,’ Benedict said. He estimated that the five dogs are between 18 and 20 years old.

"They’re very, very old dogs," Benedict said.

Old Bridge Township Police have charged Jenny-Lyn Wall with stealing pet food and supplies that had been donated to the municipally run shelter by PETCO, a retail pet supply store.

The pet food, drugs, bedding, blankets and other supplies seized in the raid on Wall’s home and business had been donated by PETCO for animals staying in the township’s animal shelter, police have said.

However, Benedict contends that because Wall discovered that some of the donated items were damaged or in disrepair upon delivery to the kennel, she took them for the use of an animal rescue service she privately runs.

"These supplies were being donated to the township from PETCO," Benedict said. "She gave the better items to the Old Bridge Township kennel and kept the other items for her rescue if they were damaged or in need of repair."

Benedict intends to build a case on the fact that because the township was looking to terminate Wall and another employee in order to outsource the animal shelter operation, her supervisors in the township’s police department were trying to find a means to legally terminate her.

Memos sent to Wall by her supervisor over the past several months and since reviewed by Benedict will back up the attorney’s contention that his client did not intend to steal anything from the township kennel, according to Benedict.

"The concept that (Wall) was stealing from Old Bridge is ridiculous to me," Benedict said.

Wall, a 23-year employee, and the township’s other animal control officer, Barbara Lee Brucker, a 21-year employee, have been fighting to keep their jobs, which were originally proposed to be eliminated under the $42.3 million budget for fiscal year 2003 when it was introduced by Mayor Barbara Cannon in July.

To save taxpayers an estimated $75,000 to $100,000, Cannon, a Republican, had recommended outsourcing the kennel’s operations to the Middlesex County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

However, Cannon’s suggestion did not sit well with many township residents, who later packed Township Council meetings in July and August and pleaded with the Democratic-controlled council to save Wall’s and Brucker’s jobs.

Some of their supporters accused Cannon and her administration of trying to prevent Wall and Brucker from receiving lifetime medical benefits, which they would be eligible for upon attaining 25 years of service.

Others alleged that the county’s SPCA had abused animals in its care and urged the council to leave the well-liked animal control officers Wall and Brucker in their jobs.

Recognizing the pair’s longtime service, the council announced in late August that it would retain the kennel under municipal control and as a result, keep Wall and Brucker on the township’s payroll.

However, because the council has yet to adopt a budget for the fiscal year that began July 1, Wall and Brucker have been paid to date out of an emergency appropriation of $37,500, approved Oct. 14 to cover their salaries for the six months from July 1 to Dec. 31.

On Dec. 9, the council approved a second emergency appropriation to cover the two kennel workers’ salaries through Jan. 31. At that same meeting, the council voted 7-2 along party lines to table the introduction of the budget in order to further review a list of proposed amendments to it.

The municipal budget introduced by Cannon, if approved by the council, would increase the municipal property tax rate by 12 cents to 75 cents per $100 of assessed valuation. As a result, municipal taxes on a home assessed at the township average of $144,000 would increase by $173 from $907 to $1,080.

However, residents who have urged the council to retain the animal shelter under township control have stated that they are willing to pay a slightly higher tax rate to accomplish that.

In December, township officials learned that the municipality would receive $200,000 in extraordinary aid from the state Department of Community Affairs (DCA). However, that amount will not even decrease the projected 12-cent tax increase by one cent, administrative officials have said.