PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. — A 66-year-old woman was arrested on Friday, October 30, on 29 felony counts of cruelty to animals after police and animal control officers removed 124 cats and kittens from a Port St. Lucie home in an alleged hoarding case, the Port St. Lucie Police Department said, according to TCPalm reporting. Kimberly K. Robinson was taken into custody in Indian River County after detectives obtained a warrant, and members of a Marshals Task Force made the arrest.
Source: TCPalm / Treasure Coast Newspapers
Police said the 29 counts stem from veterinary findings on the first 29 cats evaluated. “The investigation remains ongoing and additional charges may be considered as investigators receive and review further veterinary medical findings and evidence related to the remaining animals,” the department stated. The charges are allegations, not a conviction, and Robinson is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.
Source: Port St. Lucie Police Department via TCPalm
How the case began: a welfare call on Warwick Street
Animal Control officers first went to the home in the 2500 block of Southwest Warwick Street on October 13, following concerns about the number of cats inside the residence and the animals' living conditions, police spokesperson Officer Brittany McNally said in an October 20 release. Officers initially found more than 60 cats inside, and the animals were removed over three days that week. In total, police accounted for 124 cats — a count that includes deceased kittens found inside the home.
Investigators documented extensive accumulations of animal feces and urine, an overwhelming ammonia odor, and numerous cats suffering from apparent untreated medical conditions, police reported. The Humane Society of St. Lucie County, which took in the rescued animals, said most of the cats were infested with fleas and suffering from ear mites, and some had open sores requiring immediate treatment. “We have moms and babies of all ages, with three females giving birth shortly after their rescue,” the society reported in an October 16 social media post.
A shelter suddenly doubled
The influx more than doubled the humane society's cat population, executive director Sarah Wees said on October 20. Wees told WPTV the organization received 106 cats and kittens — the shelter's intake figure, separate from the police count of 124 animals accounted for at the home, which included animals found dead. Some of the cats were on the thinner side, Wees said, and had open sores from scratching at fleas and ear mites: “They've been scratching and scratching and scratching in the same places and so that creates open sores.” Even so, she said the cats have nice personalities: “I think they will be easy to adopt out.” The society has asked the community for donations and volunteers to help carry the sudden load.
The adults in the home surrendered ownership of the animals, Wees said, and the plan is adoption once each cat is ready. Cats must be medically cleared before spay and neuter surgeries and adoption; kittens that are not yet old enough or heavy enough for surgery will go to foster homes once they are medically cleared, she said. Three of the rescued cats were pregnant and had their kittens in the humane society's care.
Before Friday's arrest, two of the home's three residents had been issued citations related to hoarding and failure to provide medical attention to the cats, McNally stated on October 20, and the case was assigned to the police department's criminal investigations division as detectives weighed criminal charges while the animals received care. Friday's felony arrest is the first custodial arrest reported in the case, and it was built, police said, on the veterinary evidence gathered from the first group of cats examined.
The 29 felony counts rest on veterinary findings for the first 29 cats evaluated, police said, and investigators are still reviewing findings for the remaining animals. Additional charges may be considered. No court has ruled on the allegations.
Why hoarding cases turn criminal
Animal hoarding cases sit at the hardest end of animal-welfare work: animals accumulate far beyond a household's capacity to feed, clean or treat them, and conditions inside — ammonia from accumulated waste, untreated infections, fleas and mites — become a health hazard for the animals, the residents and the neighbours. That is why a case that begins as an animal-control welfare check can become a criminal investigation once veterinarians document the condition of each animal, as police say happened here, cat by cat.
What happens next: Robinson's case will move through the courts in the St. Lucie County area while police review veterinary findings for the remaining animals and decide whether to seek additional charges. At the shelter, the work is slower and quieter — medical treatment, spay and neuter surgeries as cats are cleared, foster placements for the youngest kittens, and then adoptions. Anyone locally who wants to help can donate or volunteer through the Humane Society of St. Lucie County, which has posted both routes on its social media pages.