51 Animals Taken From O.C. Condo

First they heard dogs barking--lots of them. Then they saw the fleas jumping around the doorstep. Finally, they smelled the stench.

After puzzled neighbors in the condominium complex on El Reposa notified Orange County sheriff’s deputies and animal control officers of their suspicions about one of the units, officials discovered a gruesome sight.

Inside they found six dogs and 45 cats, six of which were dead. The carcasses were on the bathroom floor, inside two bathroom cabinets and in a box in the master bedroom, Sheriff’s Lt. Dan Martini said Wednesday.

“The floors of every room were covered with feces, in some areas four inches deep,” Martini said. “The living room furniture was also covered with feces and the carpets were soaked with animal urine.”

The animals were immediately removed from the three-bedroom condominium on June 28 and their owner, Luella Kretchman, 48, was arrested on suspicion of cruelty to animals, Martini said.

Since then, 12 of the cats and one of the dogs have been destroyed because of illness, said Mark McDorman, chief of field operations for Orange County Animal Control and Animal Shelter Services.

“They were in really bad shape,” McDorman said. “Any time you have this many animals in one place, there is a flea problem and this causes other health problems in the animals.”

Kretchman told authorities she kept the dead cats “because she felt sorry for them,” Martini said. “And when the animals would urinate and defecate, she would put flea powder on top of it.

“She said she kept the dogs and cats inside and didn’t let them loose because she felt sorry for them. She said she couldn’t afford medical care for the animals that died.”

Neighbor Steve Prentice, who lives directly across from Kretchman, said that the odor and the fleas had become overwhelming and that neighbors had tried for several months to discover the cause.

“You would smell it constantly,” Prentice said. “I had a few discussions with (Kretchman) and she told me that it must be the sewer line. She was extremely friendly, but she is just a strange person. How someone could live like that, I just don’t know.”

Prentice, whose own cat was missing, was allowed to enter Kretchman’s home last week to see if his cat was inside. He said he was horrified.

“It smelled like a huge litter box,” Prentice said. “There were cats on the counter, cats on the couch. The place was cat infested. It was just downright disgusting.”

Said neighbor Richard Olivas: “It was especially bad during the hot weather. I thought there was a dead body inside of there.”

Kretchman’s landlord, who spoke on condition that his name not be used, said Wednesday that he has begun eviction proceedings.

He said Kretchman began renting the unit in the 23000 block of El Reposa in January and had paid her rent on time each month. He said he was unaware of a problem until he was contacted by Prentice, who used to rent the unit.

The landlord said Kretchman had changed the locks, in violation of her lease. He said she was allowed to have only one dog under terms of the lease.

Efforts to contact Kretchman at her home Wednesday were unsuccessful.

Animal control’s McDorman said more animals may still be in the unit if they hid when animal control officers removed the 51 others.

Prentice and other neighbors said that they have seen at least three cats inside Kretchman’s home since she was released from Orange County Jail on Saturday, and that they are concerned that the situation might not yet be resolved.