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Central Municipal Court Judge Louis Dinice had been awaiting veterinary reports from the Bergen County Animal Shelter before allowing the case against Gabrielle Ganter to move ahead.
This followed three postponements since Bergen County SPCA investigators in June filed 26 charges of animal cruelty and neglect against the 30-year-old Ganter following an investigation that included necropsies.
Ganter -- whose reportedly is pregnant -- remained free on $5,000 bail, posted a day after she turned herself in to Belleville police on an outstanding arrest warrant in early July.
She’d chopped her hair, leaving bald spots in some places, at the time.
Ganter, who operated Pit Bull Kisses Rescue out of Newark, previously requested an extension in writing from Dinice so that she could hire an attorney, courthouse sources in Hackensack told CLIFFVIEW PILOT at the time.
She then skipped court on June 30, and the judge issued $5,000 bench warrant for her arrest.
Police alerted SPCA investigators after finding the dead animals in plastic garbage bags in the house and the live dogs — as well as a starved cat — chained in the yard without proper shelter.
“They were were extremely thin,” one law enforcement official told CLIFFVIEW PILOT, adding that conditions inside the house were “horrid.”
Bergen County Animal Control removed the carcasses and live animals from the Brook Avenue residence on May 13. An investigation by the SPCA followed, leading to complaints that include not providing food, water, proper shelter or veterinary care under Title 4:22-17.
The live dogs and cat have continued to be held at the Bergen County Animal Shelter pending the closure of the case, after which authorities said there could be adoptions.
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