Woman Found Guilty of Theft in Sale of Cats

A Northridge woman who claimed that an identical cousin was the real villain was convicted Thursday of theft and animal cruelty for selling alley cats as pedigreed felines.

Jurors found Jaie Brashar, 47, guilty after a one-week trial in Van Nuys Superior Court in which victims said they paid her hundreds of dollars for purebred kittens that turned out to be mixed breed.

She was convicted of 11 counts of theft and two counts of cruelty to animals.

In her own defense, Brashar alleged that the false statements were made by an identical cousin. Authorities maintain that such a person does not exist.

Brashar faces up to six years in prison.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Kathleen M. Cady said she plans to ask Judge Sandy Kriegler to sentence Brashar to one year in County Jail and five years probation.

Kriegler set March 3 for sentencing. Brashar remains free on $15,000 bail.

She was arrested in February after numerous people who answered newspaper ads for pedigreed kittens complained to police and animal control officers.

Animal control officers seized 34 cats from Brashar’s apartment, most of them sick and underfed, authorities said.

Videotaped searches--showing filthy conditions and cats in poor health--were shown in court to support the charges of animal cruelty.

A cat-breeding expert testified that the kittens Brashar sold for as much as $500 each were not pedigreed and that paperwork documenting the animals’ breeding was bogus.