Round Lake woman in animal cruelty case insists she loved her dogs
A Round Lake woman charged after two of the 11 crated dogs in her van died on a 90-degree day said she loved the animals and was attempting to help them when police intervened.
"I loved the dogs the same as my children. ... I didn't care about the business side; I cared about my dogs," Griselda Martinez testified Tuesday during her bench trial before Cook County Judge Marc Martin in Rolling Meadows.
Martinez said she was moving from Round Lake to Streator on Aug. 16, 2015, to start a dog breeding business when the air conditioning in her van stopped working. She testified she and her friend Arturo Mendez-Sanchez stopped at a Palatine auto parts store to buy coolant when a Palatine police officer on patrol noticed the animals in crates stacked one on top of another in the van, which had its windows closed.
Palatine officer Arturo Delgadillo testified Monday the animals were lying in feces and urine, whimpering and foaming at the mouth. In his testimony, Mendez-Sanchez acknowledged the dogs were agitated, drooling and panting.
Delgadillo testified he noticed the animals were in distress and began pulling the crates out of the van. He said witnesses, store employees and fellow officers moved the dogs into the store and tried to cool them with water.
Martinez disputed that. She said Mendez-Sanchez and her nephew pulled the crates out of the van. She also testified the coolant resolved the air conditioning problem and they were about to drive the animals to a veterinarian when Delgadillo pulled up and began questioning her.
"The police officer was just interested in giving me a ticket," Martinez said.
She said he didn't allow her to proceed to the animal hospital. But under cross examination, Martinez said she did not know of any animal hospitals or veterinarians in the area. She also admitted one of the Palatine officers took one of the dogs to the Golf Rose Animal Hospital in Schaumburg, where it was dead on arrival.
Dr. Christina McCratic, a Golf Rose veterinarian, testified all 11 animals, French and English bulldogs and one Pomeranian, had skin and ear infections and showed signs of neglect, mostly related to grooming. The dogs that died had body temperatures of 107.6 and 108 degrees, five degrees above normal for a bulldog, McCratic said.
Testimony resumes Oct. 6 when prosecutors say they will recall Delgadillo to rebut Martinez's testimony.