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This is what I found tonight in doing a search on this:

Puppy Mill Trial

There are actually two cases going on at the same time: a criminal case and a civil case filed by Union County's Humane Society.


MONROE, N.C. -- The trial will continue into another day for a Union County woman accused of running an illegal puppy mill out of her home.

Delores Perez is charged with misdemeanor animal cruelty.

The Union County Humane Society said that when it visited Delores Perez's home in April, it found row upon row of dog cages outside and in dimly lit rooms. Officials said the floors reeked of urine and were covered in feces and that there was little or no food or water for the dogs.


Delores Perez is charged with misdemeanor animal cruelty.
“Ocho" is just one of more than 250 dogs found at Perez's home. Foster owner Veronica Kelso said Ocho exhibits a personality that shows neglect.

“He's still terrified of almost everything in life, and it's going to be a long, hard road for him,” Kelso said.

Other foster owners say their dogs act just like Ocho and were in bad health when they were found.

Perez listened Monday as witnesses testified in court about the conditions they saw at her home.

Mitch Helms is an insurance adjuster who came by Perez’s house in 1993.

“I told her she probably had a black snake around there, and she said, ‘That's OK, it only eats one or two puppies a month,’” Helms said.


The Humane Society captured video of Perez's home and played it in court Monday.
The district attorney and the Humane Society want to prove that the conditions found in April were not a one-time occurrence, but a pattern of neglect and a reason Perez should not be allowed to own animals besides her personal pets.

Two sheriff's deputies also testified that they saw similar conditions when they visited Perez's home in 1993 based on Helms' complaint. They deputies said they did not take the animals but they did find drugs used for euthanasia.

It is illegal for anyone who is not a licensed veterinarian or a veterinarian assistant to administer those drugs in North Carolina. The deputies said they did not know if Perez administered them or not.

The district attorney and the Humane Society are trying their cases against Perez at the same time, even though one is for criminal charges and the other is a civil lawsuit. The law says the judge can do that to save the court's time.