Couple In Animal Cruelty Case Freed From Jail Pend Oreille County Pair Released On Own Recognizance

A Pend Oreille County couple accused of keeping 220 dogs in deplorable conditions and cheating dog buyers out of thousands of dollars were released from jail Monday without bail.

Sven and Jeanette Bergman emerged from jail with their heads hidden behind their coats. They declined to talk to reporters.

The Bergmans were arrested Saturday when sheriff’s officers searched their wooded property about eight miles north of Newport and found conditions so bad that some animal rescue workers cried.

Sheriff’s Deputy Andrew Fritz said ears of several dogs appeared to have been lopped off with a blunt instrument and no anesthetic - which requires a prescription and wasn’t found on the premises.

The mutilation was not the cosmetic surgery dog breeders sometimes perform on dogs’ ears. Fritz said he still doesn’t know the reason for the amputations, but animal welfare workers speculated the animals may have been intended for dog fighting. Amputating ears could remove a target for other dogs’ teeth.

Jeanette Bergman’s attorney, Dennis Scott, blasted statements by Fritz as “inflammatory.”

“We consider them an invitation to violence from the community and people who may not recognize the rhetoric for what it is,” Scott said.

He said both his client, who is 45, and Sven Bergman, 48, are innocent. Jeanette Bergman’s 1991 animal-related conviction in Kootenai County was for relatively minor licensing violations, Scott said.

However, the Idaho judge who sentenced Bergman to a month in jail called her kennel operation “an intolerable situation that a decent person would not allow to take place.”

Sven Bergman’s attorney, Brian O’Brien, could not be reached for comment.

Pend Oreille County District Court Judge Chuck Baechler initially set bail for the Bergmans at $10,000 apiece early Monday. Later, though, attorneys hammered out an agreement that allows the couple to remain free until their arraignment Jan. 16 in Superior Court.

“They have ties to the community,” Deputy Prosecutor Tony Koures said. “We don’t believe they’re a risk for flight.”

The Bergmans won’t be allowed to have any animals under terms of their release, Koures said.

The tentative court date supposes the Bergmans will be charged with a felony. If only misdemeanor charges are filed, the arraignment will be rescheduled to District Court.

Both animal cruelty and theft by deception can be either a misdemeanor or a felony, depending on the severity of the cruelty and the amount of the alleged theft. But Koures said any fraud charges against the Bergmans almost certainly would be felonies because almost all of the alleged thefts, which total $7,868, exceed the $250 threshold.

Both misdemeanor and felony charges could carry penalties of up to a year in jail, Koures said, but sentences typically are much less than the maximum.

Veterinarians will need a week to 10 days to compile their notes, and Fritz said it may take him up to a month to make a complete report to Koures.

Fritz investigated the Bergmans for a year before searching their property Saturday and Sunday with a team of more than 40 officers and volunteers from about 10 agencies. He presented a theft-by-deception case to Koures in April, but Koures wanted evidence of animal cruelty as well.

“Basically, we thought we would have enough to really shut them down” with further investigation, Fritz said.

Similar allegations were raised in 1993 when another deputy searched the Bergman property, but no charges were filed. Both Fritz and Koures were hired after that and said they don’t know why no charges were filed in 1993.

Based on statements by witnesses who had seen only part of the property, Fritz made plans to seize 100 to 120 mistreated dogs.

When his team instead found some 220 dogs, “we had an instant housing problem and an instant transportation problem.”

About 25 of the dogs had to be euthanized. Others are being cared for by animal welfare organizations in Spokane, Seattle and elsewhere.

The operation dragged into Sunday, and news of the raid brought more volunteers to deal with the overload, Fritz said.

The Sheriff’s Department telephone was so flooded with calls Monday that the department had to use an answering machine. Fritz urged people who want to report criminal information against the Bergmans to send him a fax at (509) 447-2222. They should give their name, telephone number and a brief summary, he said.

“I will personally return every call,” Fritz said.

He said anyone who wants to adopt a dog or help the rescue operation should call Seattle Pure Breed Rescue at (206) 654-1117, not the Sheriff’s Department.

, DataTimes MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: Information and adoption To give information in the case, fax details to the Pend Oreille Sheriff’s Department at (509) 447-2222. Provide name, phone number and summary. To adopt a dog or help the rescue operation, call Seattle Pure Breed Rescue at (206) 654-1117.