Groom shop owner sentenced in neglect case

A groom shop owner was sentenced Thursday to probation, hundreds of dollars in fines and restitution, and was barred from boarding animals for a year after a May conviction on an animal-neglect charge.

Carol Halstead also must complete 100 hours of community service, submit to periodic inspections of her home and business, take an animal-cruelty education class and write a letter of apology to Elizabeth Moore, whose 5-year-old Maltese, Toddy, was injured while in Halstead’s care last year.

“We have to give a message to her that if she’s going to be in the animal-care business, she has certain obligations and responsibilities,” Pima County prosecutor Clinton Stinson said before Halstead was sentenced at Justice Court in Green Valley.

Halstead was accused of allowing Moore’s dog to be attacked by another dog and not contacting the owner or a veterinarian. Moore said Halstead downplayed the extent and timing of the injuries. Halstead, who has operated The Groom Shop in Sahuarita for more than 10 years, said Moore declined offers to have the dog seen by a veterinarian.

The packed courtroom included supporters on both sides, some murmuring under their breath as Stinson asked for a stiffer sentence that included 45 days of jail time.

Stinson noted that Halstead had a prior conviction in a nearly identical case where a dog died in November 2007. Halstead’s appeal in that case was denied last month.

Halstead’s attorney, Carl MacPherson, called Stinson’s sentencing recommendation “far-fetched,” “absurd” and “almost spurious.”

“My client is a caring, loving caregiver for animals,” he said, adding that, “She’s been sent a very expensive message just by going through this trial.”

Judge Pro Tem Thomas Johnson also gave Halstead a suspended 45-day jail sentence and ordered one year of supervised probation and one year unsupervised. She was also ordered to pay $692.86 in restitution to Moore, donate $500 to the Humane Society of Southern Arizona, and pay a $1,500 fine, which would be reduced to $500 if she successfully completes probation.

After the sentencing, Halstead, who did not speak in court, said she had animals scheduled for boarding into next year, and not being allowed to board will cut her income in half.

She called the case “extreme, unfair and a personal vendetta against me.”

Stinson said after the sentencing that “justice was served,” but Moore, who had several supporters with her, said she “didn’t think it was enough. I think she should have gotten jail time, more service hours.”

Jewell Snideman of Green Valley, who has done business with Halstead for six years, attended the sentencing with several others “to support Carol.”

“I would not trust anybody else with my cat,” she said.