Kennel Owner Faces New Charges of Cruelty in Sales to Medical Labs

A San Fernando Valley woman awaiting trial on charges of tricking pet owners into giving away cats and dogs that were later sold for research to medical laboratories was arrested on suspicion of animal cruelty Monday in Bakersfield.

Authorities said they believe Barbara Ann Ruggiero, 27, used her Puppy Pavilion kennel as a clearing house for pets she adopted with the promise of providing them a good home. Instead, investigators said, she sold the animals to medical laboratories for as much as $500 apiece.

Ruggiero faces trial Nov. 13 on felony theft and conspiracy charges stemming from her involvement in a similar operation in Sylmar that was disbanded by Los Angeles authorities in 1988. She and Frederick John Spero, 45, and Ralf Jacobsen, 27, are accused of using two Sylmar kennels to ship animals to three Southern California research facilities, where many of the animals later died, according to prosecutors. According to prosecutors, the three would get animals by responding to classified ads offering free pets to good homes.

About 15 armed animal control officers from Kern and Los Angeles counties raided the Bakersfield kennels, operated by Ruggiero for the last year, after several months of investigation by the Los Angeles Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

Authorities seized several cartons of documents, and 80 dogs taken from the kennel were placed in shelters operated by Kern County and the SPCA.

Ruggiero was arrested on three misdemeanor animal cruelty charges, including holding animal fights for spectators, failure to care for animals and confining animals without an adequate exercise area. Ruggiero is being held in the Kern County Jail in lieu of $8,000 bail.

Authorities said they also were seeking Jacobsen for questioning.

Both Ruggiero and Jacobsen were operating the kennel under assumed names, authorities said.

Jim McCall, Kern County senior animal control officer, said the overall condition of the kennel “wasn’t too bad.” But, he said, the facility reeked of urine, and officers found stacks of boxes of Twinkies that were apparently fed to the animals as a quick way of fattening them up.

McCall said his office had collected several flyers from Puppy Pavilion encouraging pet owners to bring unwanted animals there instead of the pound.

Los Angeles SPCA officials began investigating Ruggiero’s Bakersfield kennel after it was brought to their attention by an animal rights group.