Warren sees suspended sentence revoked

A local woman accused of violating the terms of her probation by owning and caring for animals will spend the next eight years behind bars with credit for time served.

Cathie Iris Warren, also known as Cathie Iris Odegaard, earned a suspended sentence in 2017 after a jury found her guilty of three counts of aggravated animal cruelty, four counts of cruelty to animals and a misdemeanor count of cruelty to animals, second or subsequent offense. Lincoln County District Judge Matthew Cuffe revoked the suspended sentence on June 23.

Warren returned to court earlier this year after her probation officer reported finding her in possession of animals again. According to a July 7 judgment order, Warren “admitted in open court to the petition that she had violated” the conditions of her probation barring her from owning animals.

Prior to ending up back in court, Warren received repeated warnings, according to court documents. When authorities searched her home earlier this year, they found evidence of Warren breeding goats and caring for animals on her property. They also found her in possession of a dog, which she described as a service animal.

That authorities would deprive her of a service dog violated her constitutional rights, she told Probation Officer Steve Watson, according to court documents.

Watson described Warren as becoming ever more “irrational” in her insistence that she could own and raise animals despite the suspended sentence.

“[Warren told me it is her constitutional right to raise and have animals,” Watson wrote in a report filed with the court that documented a string of infractions. “[Warren] has been resistant in the past, but her current behavior is that she will no longer comply with probation.”

Warren earned the original sentence after local authorities raided her home and kennel in 2016. More than 100 animals were rescued from what the Humane Society of the United States described as a “puppy mill” in a press release. Health officials found dogs stacked in small crates without food or water, The Western News reported at the time.

Along with eight years behind bars, Cuffe ordered Warren to pay roughly $68,067 in court fees and fines. She received credit for 33 days for time served as well as street credit for 1,380 days, an acknowledgment of the time she already spent under probation.