No link...sorry. I got this in an email from our SPCA...
It's sickening on many levels.
SUFFOLK COUNTY
SOCIETY FOR THE PREVENTION OF CRUELTY TO ANIMALS
NEWS ALERT
January 21, 2010
Suffolk County SPCA CONTACT: Chief Roy Gross
Your Local SPCA Serving Suffolk County 631-382-SPCA
363 Route 111 (7722)
Smithtown, NY11787
NEWSDAY.COM
DA: Selden mom killed pets in front of kids
January 21, 2010 by CARL MACGOWAN /
carl.macgowan@newsday.comSharon McDonough leaves family court
A Selden woman tortured and killed a cat and strangled a dog in front of one of her children in a house filled with the stench of excrement, where the kids were not allowed to use the bathroom and had to relieve themselves in buckets, the Suffolk County district attorney said Thursday.
"We're talking about a mother who subjected her children to the most horrific ... living conditions I have ever seen," Thomas Spota said at a Riverhead news conference after a 13-count grand jury indictment was handed up in a case that earlier made national headlines.
Sharon McDonough's six daughters slept in their mother's bedroom because their rooms housed cages for the family's pets, which rarely were allowed outside, Spota said.
McDonough, 43, also beat her 1-year-old daughter for crying and duct-taped the mouth of one of her dogs for barking, Spota said.
PHOTOS: Selden woman charged with animal cruelty
>>VIDEO: Haven't been following the story? Click here for a video recap
McDonough pleaded not guilty in Suffolk County Court in Riverhead earlier Thursday to the indictment charging her with felony cruelty to animals, misdemeanor torturing animals and misdemeanor child endangerment.
She was ordered held on $100,000 cash bail by Judge James Hudson.
If convicted of the felony charges, McDonough faces a maximum penalty of 2 years in prison.
Her attorney, James Saladino of Riverhead, said in court he may use an insanity defense at McDonough's trial.
Spota said a Suffolk grand jury heard an audio recording made by one of McDonough's children of her threatening to kill one of the other children.
McDonough's daughters, who range in age from 20 months to 13 years old, lived on a diet of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and macaroni and cheese, and were forced to use buckets to relieve themselves, Spota said. They were not allowed to take showers.
When her son Doug, 21, bought frozen TV dinners for his sisters last summer, McDonough "took those TV dinners and refused to give them to her children," Spota said.
The incident apparently led Doug to move out of the house last summer and call authorities in November, Spota said.
"I consider him a hero," he said.
The Suffolk Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in November found four dogs and a cat who were malnourished and covered with dried feces, said SPCA chief of operations Steve Laton.
One other dog who had been in the house only two weeks was in adequate health, he said.
The animals were removed from the home in November and have shown "significant progress," assistant district attorney John Cortes said at the news conference.
The SPCA found the carcasses of 42 dogs buried in McDonough's backyard, Spota said. Dead cats were thrown out in the trash, he said.
McDonough's daughters were removed from the home in November and are living with family and friends.
The earliest charges against McDonough date to June 2006, when she "strangled one of the dogs in the presence of her then-10-year-old daughter," Spota said.
In November, McDonough slammed a cat against a wall and wrapped it with duct tape before hanging it from the ladder of one of the girl's bunk beds until the cat suffocated, Spota told reporters.
When one of the children asked her why she abused the pets, she said, "It's my treat," Spota said.
Spota said there was no evidence McDonough forced her children to torture animals. "Everything she did to these animals was done by her," he said.
Doug McDonough told reporters last year his mother forced her children to abuse the pets. He was in court Thursday but did not speak to reporters