Tabitha L. Baker , 21, of 117 Massabesic St., Apt. 2, was given a six-month deferred sentence after she pleaded guilty to animal cruelty for abandoning a black pit bull on Dunbarton Road.

She must also pay $200 to the Manchester Animal Shelter, which cared for the dog.

Baker is to return to court in six months to show she paid the money and has been of good behavior. If she has complied, the sentence will be suspended.

According to court records, on Oct. 29, 2005, Baker and Laura A. Rodriguez, 20, of 513 Chestnut St., Apt. 1, tried to leave the pit bull dog at the Manchester Animal Shelter on Dunbarton Road.

Assistant shelter manager Melinda Fischer-Hardey explained to the women the facility is for stray animals and under a contract with the city, they do not accept pets. She gave the women a printed list of shelters and humane societies which do accept pets.

The women left with the dog but Fischer-Hardey copied down the license plate number on the 1988 black Pontiac.

Later that day, an area resident dropped the same pit bull off at the shelter after finding it running loose at Straw and Dunbarton roads.

Animal control officer Dennis Walsh ran the license plate number which came back to a car belonging to Baker.

Police said Rodriguez owned the dog and could not keep it because she was being evicted.

Rodriguez told police Baker took her to the shelter. When they would not take the dog, Baker drove up Dunbarton Road and dumped the dog there. Baker, she told Walsh, said she had done this before.

Initially, Walsh worked out an agreement with Baker, who was to surrender the dog to the Animal Rescue League of New Hampshire in Bedford and pay $100 to the Manchester shelter.

Stan Kuligowski, age 35, of 36 Clinton St., Baker's friend, wrote a check to the shelter for $100, half the money owed them for caring for the dog. The remaining $100 was to be paid by Dec. 3, 2005.

Police said Baker never made the final payment, Rodriguez disappeared after a drug raid at 513 Chestnut St., Apt. 1, and Kuligowski's check bounced.

Baker also failed to appear for a trial on a charge she falsely reported she was abducted by a stranger on May 10 at Pine and Pearl streets and then raped.

According to court records, Baker made up the assault because she was having an affair and she did not want her boyfriend to find out about it.

Initially, Baker yesterday pleaded guilty to the false report charge but, when prosecutors recommended she serve 30 days in jail, she withdrew the guilty plea.

Her bail is $1,000 cash/surety, with the trial set for March 15, 2007

Baker is not a stranger to the court system.  In May, 2006 Baker claimed she was raped by a stranger and was arraigned in June 2006 in Manchester District Court on a misdemeanor charge of false report to law enforcement.

Tabitha Baker , 21, of 422 Lake Ave., 2nd floor, reported to police May 10 that she had been raped after getting out of her car at a friend's home.

According to court documents, a male friend of Baker's boyfriend said he and Baker were having an affair and had consensual sex the night Baker said she was raped.

The affidavit said interviews with Baker's boyfriend of five years, who is the father of her daughter, and interviews with Baker's sister and friends did not support her account of the alleged rape.

Bail was set at $1,000 personal recognizance and trial was set for Aug. 23, 2006.

In June 2007, Baker, 22, of 117 Massabesic St., pleaded guilty in Manchester District Court to a charge of shoplifting $16.28 worth of merchandise from Stop & Shop, 365 Lincoln St., Manchester, NH on May 16.

Baker had suspended sentences on criminal mischief, simple assault, cruelty to animals and false report, and prosecutor Stephen Reardon recommended a 12-month sentence, suspended for two years, and a year of supervised probation and is barred from the store for a year.

When Champagne asked why supervised probation was recommended, Reardon said suspended sentences hadn't helped.

In response to questions from Champagne, Baker said she works for her sister's cleaning business. "I got my GED the last time I was incarcerated," she said.

Champagne imposed the recommended sentence, after which Baker snatched probation paperwork from the bailiff's hand and muttered an expletive as she left the courtroom.

Kuligowski at age 32, was charged with public intoxication in October, 2002 after being thrown out of a Korn and Disturbed concert at the Verizon Wireless Arena in Manchester.

Reference:

The Union Leader