Woman Pleads No Contest to Animal Neglect

A woman accused last year of performing religious sacrifices of barnyard animals in the yard of her Hawthorne home has pleaded no contest to a single charge of animal neglect. She could be sentenced to as much as six months in county jail.

Catalina Sierra, 56, entered the plea Tuesday in Inglewood Municipal Court as part of an agreement that included dismissal of four other misdemeanor charges.

She will return to Judge John J. Lynch’s court March 14 for sentencing.

Although Sierra denied it, agents for the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals said last year that she used her home on Imperial Highway to perform sacrifices in the practice of Santeria, an Afro-Cuban folk religion.

Lice-Infested Pigs

Agents of the SPCA said they raided Sierra’s home in July and found a yard full of malnourished and lice-infested pigs, goats, lambs and chickens.

Sierra said at the time that the animals were well cared for and that she was not a Santeria practitioner.

The dismissed charges alleged that Sierra tortured or mutilated living animals, that she failed to maintain sanitary animal pens, that she kept more than 24 birds, in violation of a city ordinance, and that she had livestock living within 35 feet of her property line, also a violation of the city code.

If she had been convicted on those charges, Sierra could have served up to four years in prison, said Hawthorne Assistant City Atty. Ronald Pohl.

Neither Sierra nor her attorney could be reached for comment.