Woman claims state stole her dogs

A Topsfield woman has filed a $100 million lawsuit against the governor and others claiming the state stole her dogs.

Margaret Kathleen Nickerson-Malpher, aka Margot Malpher, also “demands” that the state return her dogs, according to the suit.

Malpher filed the lawsuit, on her own behalf, in U.S. District Court in Bangor last month. Most of the dogs are black miniature poodles, though the group also included two Cavalier King Charles spaniel-poodle hybrids, one Cavalier King Charles spaniel and one white standard poodle.

The Topsfield woman alleges that Norma J. Worley, director of the state’s Animal Welfare Division of the Maine Department of Agriculture, “conspired with malice aforethought to deceive and steal under color of law my precious dogs, launder them through the nonprofit animal shelter, and then plan a cover up in the deceivement [sic] of the public through the media to induce the public to be ‘on their side’ causing irreparable damage to my reputation and my professional life as well as personal life.”

Gov. John Baldacci’s press secretary, David Farmer, called the lawsuit “outlandish” and said they had turned it over to the Attorney General’s Office. “There’s not a lot of merit to this suit,” Farmer added. “It looks like from the paperwork that she sent along that she had her day in court, wasn’t pleased with the outcome, but there are certainly no grounds in here that would make the case for any wrongdoing by the state. And we fully support the Department of Agriculture in their efforts to protect the welfare of animals.”

Officials at the Maine Department of Agriculture’s Animal Welfare Division, said the lawsuit had been referred to the Attorney General’s Office.

Also named in the suit: Attorney General Steven Rowe, 4th District Court Judge John Romei, Justice of the Peace Daniel Lacasse of Calais, Washington and Hancock District Attorney Michael Povich, First Assistant District Attorney Paul Cavanaugh of Calais and state officials including: Seth Bradstreet III, commissioner of the Maine Department of Agriculture, Christine Fraser, veterinarian with the state Department of Agriculture’s Animal Welfare Division, and Christina Perry, a state animal welfare agent.

Although the governor’s office had something to say, a spokesman for the AG’s office said Tuesday that his office did not comment on pending litigation. “We act as the attorney for the state so our office is the one who will be defending the state in that case,” David Loughran said.

The dogs were removed from Malpher’s North Road home on Sept. 21, 2006, by authorities acting on a tip that the pets’ kennel was filthy.

A month later, Judge Romei ruled that the animals had been “cruelly treated” and ordered them forfeited to the state. Malpher later appealed Romei’s decision and the matter is still before the Maine Supreme Court.

After the state seized the dogs, they were taken to the Bangor Humane Society. It took six volunteer professional groomers and others nearly three days to shear, bathe and treat the dogs. The groomers found that several of the dogs appeared to have skin problems related to severe matting among other injuries.

In her lawsuit, Malpher alleges that agent Perry and veterinarian Fraser seized the dogs without her consent and claims because of the delay in transporting them to Bangor the dogs arrived in a “horrible mess” due to them lying in their own feces and urine.

Malpher called the court hearing in Calais a “sham.” “Photographs of dogs were not positively identified by me,” the lawsuit said. “Some of these photographs appeared ‘doctored up’ and were not taken at my kennel but taken later at the shelter. It became clear to me after this hearing that an illegal operation involving many persons was involved.”

To cover the cost of boarding the dogs in Bangor pending the outcome of Malpher’s appeal, assistant district attorney Cavanaugh asked for nearly $100,000, but in February the judge ordered Malpher to post a $2,500 bond.

The Topsfield woman also is calling for an investigation of the state’s Animal Welfare Program and its director. She alleges that Worley “may be aligned with some animal rights groups” which Malpher alleges have been investigated by the FBI and are on the domestic and foreign “Terrorist Lists in the World.” She also alleges that Worley was not running the state’s animal welfare program, “but rather a program to steal under color of law. She may be operating under orders,” the lawsuit said.

Malpher also named the justice of the peace that signed the original search warrant. “He should have known there was strong possibility of an illegal search as C. Perry said in her complaint that she had been on my property [before] and had seen my dog[s] in the resident/kennel. That’s a search,” Malpher wrote.

The Topsfield woman also alleges that the state is targeting people from out of state and charges that the district attorney should not have allowed his staff member to present a case, which Povich knew was “flawed.” Povich said he also had forwarded the case to the AG’s office on behalf of himself and Cavanaugh.