Officials Show Tape to Document Conditions at Cat Seller’s Home : Courts: Nine people said they believed the kittens they bought were purebred. But a breeding judge says they weren’t.

Animal control officers who entered a Panorama City house used by a woman accused of animal cruelty and theft found heaps of animal waste, rotting food, dozens of cat cages and an stench so strong they had to use masks, according to a videotape played Monday in Van Nuys Municipal Court.

The tape documented the execution of a search warrant last year at a house where Jaie Brashar lived until she was evicted. It was shown to Judge Robert L. Swasey as Brashar’s preliminary hearing on 17 counts of theft and three counts of animal cruelty got under way.

Brashar, 46, who moved from the house in July to an apartment in Northridge, was arrested Feb. 20. Los Angeles Animal Control Department officers said the woman, who was on probation for violations of animal welfare regulations, has come to their attention often since 1983. She could receive six months to a year in prison for each theft count for which she is convicted.

On Monday, nine people testified that they bought kittens from Brashar, who used different names and sometimes an English accent, after seeing advertisements for pedigreed kittens in newspapers. The buyers paid prices ranging from $200 to $500 for cats they believed were purebred Burmese, Maine Coon or Australian Snowshoe cats.

But a cat-breeding judge testified that the animals they bought were not purebreds and, in most cases, were common alley cats. The breeding judge, Jean Grimm, also testified that pedigree paperwork Brashar gave some of the buyers was phony. In one case, papers showed that two Himalayan cats produced a purebred Burmese.

“This is a blue tabby cat with large ears,” Grimm said as she studied the photo of the animal in question. “This could not be a Burmese.”

Deputy Dist. Atty. Kathleen M. Cady played a videotape taken by animal control officers who entered Brashar’s Panorama City home a day after she was evicted in July.

The tape, which was narrated by Animal Control Officer Lisa Goodman, showed filth inside the house and in the back yard. Cat cages and litter boxes were in every room, while feces was on nearly every surface, from the top of the stove and refrigerator to chairs, beds and sinks.

“Just about every inch of everything was covered with feces and urine,” Goodman said. The house was “filled with overflowing cat boxes, old food, insects, flies, maggots, worms. There was an immense odor . . . a general filth smell--if that can be described.”

Goodman said officers trapped 12 cats on the property, including one that was later destroyed because of health problems. The prosecution said it hopes that the video shows the poor care given to the animals.

When Brashar was arrested in February, officers found 34 more cats in her apartment.

Two buyers testified Monday that the cats they bought were put to sleep because of health problems shortly after they paid Brashar for them.

The hearing is scheduled to continue today with testimony from more alleged victims and a videotape of a search of Brashar’s Northridge apartment.