Madigan goes after pet shelter operator

Daily Herald, 9/24/2009 by Christy Gutowski

Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan hopes to accomplish what local, county, and other state officials before her failed to do - shutter a long-embattled Bloomingdale animal shelter for good.

In explosive allegations, Madigan sued Pet Rescue president Dale Armon after accusing her of spending at least $70,000 of the nonprofit group's funds for personal use since 2007.

For example, the lawsuit alleges, Armon paid her Cook County property tax bill for a house in Berkeley in 2008 with shelter assets. Authorities accused her of improperly spending more funds at restaurants, stores and motels in the Hebron, Woodstock and Lake Geneva areas.

Armon, 75, also lives rent free in a Pet Rescue-owned home in Hebron, the suit states.
Madigan asked a Cook County judge to freeze all Pet Rescue assets, order a thorough review of its books, bar property sales, dissolve nonprofit status, transfer assets to a "bona fide existing charity," and close the shelter.

Armon and her board of directors also are accused of allowing donations to be solicited and accepted despite the fact Pet Rescue hasn't been registered to do so since January 2008. The nonprofit group lost its registration due to incomplete 2006 financial records.

Madigan is going after Armon criminally as well by seeking to have her found in indirect civil contempt on suspicion she violated a July 2004 consent decree with the attorney general's office to comply with all accounting and reporting requirements. The consent decree grew out of a 2000 lawsuit.

Armon may face up to six months behind bars and more than $50,000 in civil fines.
At last count, state officials said, Pet Rescue has 150 cats, 50 dogs, several birds, guinea pigs and rabbits in its shelter at 151 N. Bloomingdale Road. It took in about $1.26 million in public donations between 2006 and 2007, according to attorney general officials, who said they've had access to a small portion of financial records since 2007.

The no-kill animal shelter, in operation since 1973, long has been the subject of controversy as former clients, volunteers and workers accused the elderly operators of hoarding animals and providing improper care rather than adopting them out to suitable homes.

Various efforts to revoke the shelter's operating license and special-use permit have repeatedly stalled. One year ago, DuPage prosecutors charged Armon and her director, Penny I. Horak, 70, with misdemeanor animal cruelty and violation of their duties after several cats and dogs became sick, some to the point they had to be euthanized.

Their trial was supposed to begin Monday and, after it was delayed, critics who have argued authorities are turning a blind eye as animals suffer in silence staged a peaceful courthouse protest. In the meantime, the judge in the case earlier ordered regular inspections a few times a month to ensure the animals are receiving proper care.

Neither Armon nor Horak have responded in recent years to Daily Herald telephone requests for comment. Both are fighting the misdemeanor charges in court. Pet Rescue attorney Rick Schoenfield has repeatedly denied criticism that the animals are receiving improper care. He also submitted financial records in June to state officials, but they said that information was incomplete.