| Who, age | What | Where | When | Last Known Address |
| Robbin D'Urso, 44 | 129 dogs rescued in raid | Fairfield, CT Fairfield County |
July 27, 2006 | New Milford, CT |
| Type of Crime | Other Crimes | #/Type of animal(s) involved | Case Status | Next Court Date /Courthouse |
| Misdemeanor | operating an unlicensed children's day care center; 2nd degree threatening and 2nd degree breach of peace; probation violation | 150 dogs, 1 rabbit, 1 cat | Convicted |
Bridgeport Superior Court |
129 dogs, some reportedly near death, were rescued from an Eastfield Drive home during a Police raid assisted by Animal Control Officers.
2001 file photo
of Robbin
Robbin
The
Police investigation found dogs jammed into rooms throughout the house.
Detective Lt.
From left; Fairfield Det.
Officers
from a dozen Animal Control Departments, including Bethel and East Haven,
joined the raid at
Police
continue to look into the number and ages of people who lived in the house.
The house is reportedly owned by a limited liability company that lists
On
the day of the raid, Lopow stated he brought a total
of 200 dogs from
Lopow maintains he got the
First
Selectman Kenneth Flatto has asked State Attorney
General
Update
7/28/06:
New allegations are
surfacing in the animal abuse case involving D’Urso. People have come forth and spoken out about
dogs they adopted from
Other
people are reporting similar problems and everyone had to pay
Attorney General
Update
8/7/06:
(Photo courtesy of WTNH News 8)
(Photo Courtesy of the Connecticut
Post)
D'Urso yelled, "Let's go kill the daughter and her boyfriend!" as Amanda Wargo, 16, a next-door neighbor walked down her parents' driveway with her boyfriend, Iain Munley, 20, of Sasapequan Road, police said.
Wargo told police she couldn't see D'Urso because it was dark, but recognized her neighbor's voice. Officers went to D'Urso's house to talk to her about Wargo's complaint, but said D'Urso didn't come to the door.
Police then applied for a warrant for D'Urso's arrest after Wargo told officers she felt threatened and wanted the woman arrested.
Geoffrey Wargo, 50, Amanda's father, showed reporters photos he had taken of profanities that had been spray-painted on his house in the past. Detectives said they were aware of the vandalism, but could not prove who did it.
D'Urso is expected in court on Aug. 14th to answer to the cruelty to animals. She also must be in court on Aug. 15th for a contempt-of-court hearing, which stems from town officials' allegation that D'Urso violated local zoning regulations by keeping more than three dogs in an outdoor pen.
Since
the raid 3 puppies and 1 rabbit have died. The 3 pups had to be euthanized.
Investigators also discovered that
The
Dept of Children and Families conducted an unannounced visit to D'Urso's home, although her 3 children, ages 7, 10 and 11,
where not home at the time, they have been placed in the custody of D'Urso's soon to be ex-husband, Vincent in North Haven. After
a Bridgeport Superior Court hearing,
Update
8/14/06:
In a related case,
Kentucky evangelist
In
September, 2003 State inspectors gave
Update 8/16/06: D'Urso told a Superior Court judge that she has no idea how many dogs were in her Eastfield Drive house. "I only know what the media reported," D'Urso testified during a two-hour hearing on her case.
Pressed by Fairfield Assistant Town Attorney Noel Newman on a number, she repeated, "I have no idea." "Was it more than three?" Newman persisted? "I had 11 personal dogs," she replied.
Newman asked Judge Edward F. Stodolink to find D'Urso in contempt for violating his June 1 order not to have more than three dogs in a "run area" between her house and that of her neighbor, Geoffrey Wargo.
The judge reserved decision on the motion.
Update 10/4/06: D'Urso told a judge he was barking up the wrong tree if he expected her to pay $15,000 in restitution.
After more than two hours of negotiation, the 44-year-old D'Urso agreed to plead guilty to 6 out of 104 animal cruelty charges.
But Superior Court Judge Patrick Carroll got D'Urso's dander up when he told her she would get a suspended sentence, on the condition she make restitution to all area towns that have been treating her dogs.
"But your honor, there is no money," she complained. D'Urso then insisted that the state probation office study what the municipalities are owed in her case.
But Carroll pointed out that that the probation office could find that she owes much more than the $15,000 in her plea deal, or more than $50,000 that the municipalities seek.
He also told D'Urso he is aware she had recently refinanced her Eastfield Drive home, providing her with $80,000.
"That's already been spent," D'Urso retorted. The judge then vacated the guilty pleas and continued the case so that D'Urso's lawyer, Jonathan Stein, can provide him with an accounting of what his client did with the money.
D'Urso was recently denied permission to take in several blind pit bulls.
Update 10/20/06: It was determined that D'Urso spent most of the money on a luxury sport utility vehicle.
The various municipalities are looking to be reimbursed for $50,000. Fairfield Animal Control itself has now paid out $43,938 which includes a $22,000 deficit only 3 months into the new fiscal year for caring for D'Urso's animals. It is costing the shelter $130 for each puppy to be professionally dewormed and that alone was more than $13,000. The animal hospital expenses were $22,492 and the boarding fee's total $7,600. The town has received $1,800 in donations from individuals, residents and from nationwide supporters. Iams and Royal Canine donated 5,000 pounds of canned and dry dog food and Wal-Mart donates dog food on a regular basis to the shelter.
In August a puppy died from "complications due to pre & post birth malnutrition" The total number of animals that died from the July 28th 2006 seizure comes to 8 puppies and 1 rabbit.
Update 10/26/06: D'Urso has been convicted after pleading guilty to 6 of 104 counts of cruelty to animals and 1 count of having an animal nuisance under the Alford doctrine in Bridgeport Superior Court. Under the plea, (the Alford doctrine) she doesn't admit guilt but concedes prosecutors have enough evidence for a conviction.
Judge Patrick Carroll sentenced D'Urso to a 5 year suspended sentence with 3 years probation. D'Urso cannot keep any animals in her home or yard during this time period.
Also part of her plea bargain D'Urso must pay $15,000 to Fairfield Animal Control for the care and feeding of the dogs taken during the raid.
The dogs now totaling 146 because of 16 puppies being born since the raid, kept in protective custody can now be put up for adoption. The town's Assistant Attorney Noel Newman is now investigating the possibility of retrieving some of the town's losses through a civil lawsuit against D'Urso.
Update 2/2/07: One of the dogs adopted had disappeared 10 days ago from its new home on Melville Avenue was found dead after being struck and killed by a train near Linwood Avenue and North Pine Creat Road. The dog a 2-year-old lab mix named Shiloh was going to be euthanized because she was terrified of people until the Luca family adopted the dog. The dog had lived her entire life in a cage under D'Urso's care. But the Luca family made many visits to the shelter to win Shiloh's trust and when they adopted her she was eating out of the daughters hand. 2 days after the adoption Shiloh fled. The dog was spotted on an Interstate 95 ramp on January 26th and the next day on Mill Plain Rd by Perry St. but because she was distrustful of people it was especially hard to capture her.
The remaining 25 dogs up for adoption are not your typical pound dogs - they are the dogs with the most social issues, they are unsure and have been without human contact for a majority of their lives. These dogs are so fearful they don't even know how to fight back. They are so used to living in cages that when they are outside they tend to panic.
Update 4/27/07: D'Urso was arrested on 4/26/07 for violating her probation by having 2 pit bulls at her home. A black cat was found at the home. D'Urso turned herself into police after learning there was a warrant for her arrest. Upon arraignment she entered a not guilty plea to the probation violation and will be in court again on May 17th. D'Urso is free after posting a $5,000 bond.
Update 5/17/07: D'Urso found that, at least in her case, Superior Court Judge Patrick Carroll's bark was worse than his bite when she pleaded guilty to violating her probation.
D'Urso could have faced up to five years in prison for ignoring the judge's order not to keep any animals in her home. Instead, the judge imposed a $1,500 fine and allowed her to remain on probation until he sentences her May 29.
A relieved D'Urso left the Golden Hill Street courthouse with her lawyer, Jonathan Klein, without comment.
Dressed in a blue track suit, D'Urso sat in a corner of the courtroom while her lawyer discussed the case with the judge and a prosecutor.
Later, she stood before the judge and quietly admitted to violating her probation.
D'Urso still faces other legal battles. Her home is in foreclosure proceedings in Superior Court and her husband is suing her for divorce and seeking custody of their three children.
Update 6/11/07: A Bridgeport man wants to reopen Companions for Life, a self-described animal rescue operation on Eastfield Drive that provoked neighborhood controversy before closing when its owner was charged with animal cruelty last July.
Martin Lopow, of Cherry Hill Drive, said he wants to reopen the business by month's end and plans to board from 20 to 30 dogs in an in-law apartment at the house.
Lopow said he will lease the Eastfield Drive house from its owner, Robbin D'Urso, and plans to live there periodically. Others not associated with Companions for Life also will live in the house, Lopow said.
Town Attorney Richard Saxl said the town will fight Lopow's plan to reopen Companions for Life, which had advertised itself as a nonprofit business when D'Urso owned it.
Lopow visited the Eastfield Drive house with his dogs, Rusty, Rosy and Mr. Stinky, which got his name after a skunk sprayed him. "This place is well designed for an operation such as this," Lopow, 45, said of the 5,133-square-foot, ranch-style house that sits on a half-acre at 104 Eastfield Drive.
Lopow added that Fairfield is one of the few towns in Connecticut that doesn't have restrictions on dog ownership and fostering.
Lopow said he plans to bring 30 to 40 dogs from shelters in the South every month, depending on how quickly he can find homes for them. Not all of the dogs will live on Eastfield Drive, he said.
"An adoption agency is the idea. The intent is to have them for not even a month before they're in a home," Lopow said. "It's a shame, the past year, that a large number of dogs that might have been saved were euthanized."
Saxl said Lopow will have "significant problems" trying to reopen Companions for Life and that the town "will take strong and immediate steps to shut the business down again." "This business is not going to get the benefit of the doubt, after its history," Saxl said.
State Attorney General Richard Blumenthal said his office's investigation into possible "co-mingling" of personal and charitable funds at Companions for Life is continuing.
"Anyone reopening the charity would have to contact our office and answer questions we raised about the co-mingling of funds before the charity could be revived," Blumenthal said.
Lopow said D'Urso recently moved upstate and would not have "active involvement" with Companions for Life.
"Since she is no longer in the residence there; it's perfectly legal, under new management, to operate from that facility there," Lopow said.
Lopow said he doesn't know exactly where D'Urso lives and has no telephone number for her.
The town does not have an ordinance that limits the number of dogs in a house, but wildlife sanctuaries and charitable institutions can't open in a residential zone without approval from the Town Plan and Zoning Commission, town officials said.
Lopow, however, said Companions for Life already was established on Eastfield Drive and questioned whether that approval is needed.
Zoning regulations also forbid more than three dogs on a run within 100 feet of a property line, officials said.
Lopow, who used to drive dogs from shelters in southern states to Connecticut for Companions for Life, said he'd check into what he has to do to reopen D'Urso's operations.
Geoff Wargo, who lives next door at 120 Eastfield Drive, wasn't pleased to hear that Companions for Life might reopen. "I think it would be a big mistake on his part because the people here on Eastfield Drive are finally relieved after years of ongoing problems concerning the many dogs kept here in that house," Wargo said.
Lopow said he'd make sure the house isn't overcrowded with dogs, but Wargo said Lopow was charged with animal cruelty by Bridgeport police for keeping Rusty in his car in freezing temperatures.
Lopow, accused last February of leaving Rusty in his 2002 Kia Rio in 19-degree temperatures, told officers he wasn't allowed to have more than two dogs in his condo and didn't intend to have Rusty in the car more than 12 hours.
Lopow acknowledged the charges against him were true but said Rusty had a thick coat of fur and the case was dismissed.
Lopow also was charged in 2002 with snatching Rusty from Trumbull's animal shelter after learning the dog would be euthanized. Lopow acknowledged those charges also were true, but said he acted because he was not willing to let Rusty die.
Lopow said he was granted accelerated rehabilitation and his record was wiped clean after two years.
Noel Newman, an assistant town attorney who was involved in the town's case against D'Urso, said Lopow faces an uphill fight reopening Companions for Life. "I can't see that the authorities are just going to sit by and let that happen. I doubt it," Newman said. "If I were giving him advice, I think I would check this out pretty carefully before I sunk money into it."
Update 7/3/07: D'Urso was arrested for a third time. D'Urso was charged with violating probation for failing to notify her probation officer that she had moved out of her Eastfield Drive home.
D'Urso claimed the latest arrest is all a misunderstanding, and that the warrant will be vacated when she reports July 17 to Superior Court. She is free on $30,000 bond. "I am not there [Eastfield Drive] and I have not been living there since May 1. I now live in upstate Connecticut," D'Urso said.
D'Urso said her lawyer told Judge Patrick Carroll, who had imposed her sentence, that she had moved and she also sent two certified letters to her probation officer stating she had moved.
"I wrote that I have not been living there since [May 1] and that the house is being leased to tenants with animals," she said. "This just goes to show you how the system works."
D'Urso would not reveal her current address, claiming that she is being stalked by her former husband.
According to the latest arrest warrant affidavit, probation officers received a phone call June 8 that a Connecticut Post reporter came to D'Urso's residence on Eastfield Drive to interview a man.
The man was later identified as Martin Lopow.
The affidavit continues that D'Urso violated her probation by failing to keep her probation officer informed of her whereabouts and making her residence available for random searches to confirm there are no animals on her property.
Update 8/8/07: D'Urso will be imprisoned for violating probation in her animal-cruelty case.
D'Urso appeared in Superior Court before Judge Patrick Carroll for allegedly violating her probation a second time, will begin serving a 60-day prison sentence Aug. 31.
Update 8/31/07: D'Urso lost an 11th-hour appeal and was sentenced to 60 days in prison for violating probation on an animal cruelty conviction.
D'Urso stuck her hands behind her back to be handcuffed and was led away by judicial marshals from Superior Court.
Judge Patrick Carroll denied a motion for a stay in sentencing by D'Urso's lawyer, Robert Lacobelle. Lacobelle, hired just before the hearing, claimed his client's mind had been affected by medications she was taking for depression when she agreed, as advised by another lawyer, to plead guilty to violating her probation.
Assistant State's Attorney Brian Kennedy vigorously opposed the stay. Carroll ruled the motion was another attempt by D'Urso to "circumvent" his ruling and sentenced her to five years, suspended after 60 days served, and followed by two years of probation.
The judge re-emphasized that during her probation D'Urso is not to have any animals at her home. And, he added, if she follows through on her plans to sell the house, the new owner will not be allowed to have more than two dogs for the remainder of D'Urso's probation.
Carroll admitted the last order is very unusual, but explained: "It is the only way I can have control over Miss D'Urso. I've never fashioned an order like that, but I have to restrain her conduct, because earlier attempts have been unsuccessful." Lacobelle maintained the order regarding the sale of D'Urso's house is unconstitutional.
Update 2/28/08: Geoff Wargo hopes the house next door gets bulldozed. The house at 104 Eastfield Drive, where Robbin D'Urso ran an animal rescue operation will be sold in a public auction.
"I hope a contractor comes in and succeeds with the winning bid so they can tear that down and put up something nice," Wargo said. "If I see a contractor getting the bid and the house is bulldozed, that'll be the final page in the book, and things will be put to rest. I'll be happy when that day comes."
The single-story, ranch-style home, which sits on a half-acre, is in foreclosure. A limited liability company that lists Martin Lopow of Cherry Hill Drive, Bridgeport, as a principal owns the property.
The LLC doesn't owe back taxes on the real estate, but it owes $390 in back sewer taxes, according to the town Tax Collector's Office.
Rules of the auction require the winning bidder to make a $57,000 followed by the balance within 30 days.
Wargo said Lopow expressed interest in buying the house, but hopes that does not happen. "By him moving here, it's just going to be more problems. We just want a normal neighborhood. That's all anybody's asking for," Wargo said.
D'Urso was released from prison Oct. 29 after serving 60 days for violating her probation on an animal cruelty conviction. She is on probation from the animal cruelty conviction until October 2009.
Carroll's restriction on who can buy the house may not apply to auction since D'Urso is not the party selling the house. The sale of the house, however, requires court approval.
Paul Miller, the town's animal control officer, said that all of the dogs removed from D'Urso's home in the July 2006 police raid have been adopted, except for dogs that died from ill health in the raid's immediate aftermath. "We had good luck with all of them. We didn't have any that were so vicious they had to be put down," Miller said.
The town's Animal Control Department took about 50 dogs and the balance went to about a dozen animal control departments around the state, Miller said.
"Some of the towns did take some of the harder-case dogs to work with," Miller said, adding that the other towns would report back to Fairfield when one of the animals was adopted.
Update 3/4/08: The Eastfield Drive property was acquired by the company that sued the homeowner in a foreclosure proceeding.
Property Asset Management Inc. acquired the single-story, ranch-style home at 104 Eastfield Drive for $399,000 in a pubic auction.
The home had been owned by D'Urso , but she defaulted on a $409,500 mortgage that she took out from BNC Mortgage Inc. in Irvine, Calif.
Geoff Wargo, who lives next door, was pleased D'Urso's home was acquired by Property Asset Management. "The neighbors were all out and all the neighbors seemed pleased that it went to the bank," Wargo said. "It was quick. They had a couple of people there and the next thing you knew, the bank won the bid."
Update 9/30/09: D'Urso has been arrested again, this time on sexual assault charges involving children. Robbin D'Urso, 48, who now lives in New Milford, was charged with one count each of attempted third-degree sexual assault and sexual contact, and six counts of risk of injury to a minor. She was arrested by Fairfield police on a warrant at her home in New Milford.
"This is a very sensitive case that involves young children," police spokesman Sgt. James Perez said. He said he could not release many details about the case. He did say the charges stem from multiple incidents dating to several years ago.
During her arraignment in Bridgeport Superior Court, D'Urso stood before Superior Court Judge Joseph Doherty, her hands chained at her waist.
She scowled as Assistant State's Attorney Nicholas Bove urged the judge to hold her on a high bond because of the seriousness of the charges.
But D'Urso's lawyer, Assistant Public Defender Jeffrey LaPierre, urged the judge to set a more lenient bond, pointing out that his client is a lifelong resident of the area.
"A bond is not only to ensure the defendant's appearance in court, but also to protect the public," Doherty said, ordering D'Urso held in lieu of $300,000 bond. He continued the case to Oct. 19.
According to a warrant, D'Urso often hosted parties for teens at her Eastfield Drive home at which alcohol allegedly was served. The youths also allegedly were forced to get into numerous dog cages she kept in the home and clean them out. She also often walked around the home naked, according to the warrant, and attempted to sexually abuse a teen on one such occasion.
D'Urso was first arrested in 2006 on five counts of cruelty to animals for having more than 130 caged dogs packed into her house. She was then arrested in 2007 for violating terms of her initial probation that she not be allowed to have any dogs at her home.
According to witnesses, she had two pit bulls at the house. She was fined $1,500, but allowed to remain on probation.
Three months later, an associate in D'Urso's so-called animal rescue operation was apparently seen by a probation officer in the garage of her home with two dogs and she was then sentenced to 60 days in prison.
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