Mall pet shop owner faces several charges

Kim Smith

Monday, June 17, 2002 | 11:07 a.m.

A local pet shop owner with a history of legal problems will be arraigned Wednesday on charges that she knowingly sold sick and dying animals to unsuspecting customers.

Judy Palmieri, 54, faces seven counts of obtaining money under false pretenses.

According to an indictment handed down June 5, Palmieri sold 12 sick puppies and kittens between July 1, 1999, and March 31, 2002, "with the intent to cheat and defraud, willfully, unlawfully, feloniously, knowingly, designedly and by use of false pretenses."

Palmieri owns and operates the Meadows Pet Center in the Meadows mall.

The indictment alleges that all of the animals were sold for between $250 and $1,200 and were suffering from a variety of ailments, including parvo, hernias and upper respiratory infections. One of the animals was found to be "unfit for breeding."

Prosecutors believe that Palmieri "knew or should have known" the animals were ill.

Palmieri's attorneys, Karen Winckler and Richard Wright, were at a conference and not available for comment this morning.

In asking for an arrest warrant for Palmieri, court records show Deputy District Attorney Susan Krisko told Chief District Judge Mark Gibbons that another set of charges is likely to be filed on similar grounds.

Many of the complaints against Palmieri go back to 1995, Krisko said, but many cannot be pursued because of the statute of limitation.

Palmieri remains free on $15,000 bail, court records show.

Palmieri was the focus of a KVBC-TV Channel 3 series in 1997 and 1998 that resulted in the TV station and reporter Darcy Spears being sued for defamation of character.

The series alleged that all three of the mall pet shops owned by Palmieri at that time were overcrowded and unsanitary and that the animals were treated improperly.

Spears reported that Palmieri had been convicted of a number of misdemeanor crimes relating to the stores' conditions.

Palmieri accused Spears in her lawsuit of staging the overcrowded conditions, misquoting at least one key source and knowingly leaving people with false impressions.

"Defendant Spears then invited the public to file reports with their local animal control office, thereby pressuring animal control officers into unreasonably investigating and filing complaints against the plaintiffs," Palmieri wrote in an affidavit.

Spears was also sued because she discussed the Palmieri case on "The Leeza Show," a national talk show, in December 1998.

Palmieri noted that her convictions were overturned on appeal.

Palmieri's lawsuit against Spears was dismissed.