Maine woman guilty of animal cruelty

A Topsfield woman has been convicted of animal cruelty four years after 20 dogs and a cat were seized from her kennel.

Margo Malpher, also known as Margaret Kathleen Nickerson-Malpher, is expected to be sentenced in November for having unclean conditions in 2006.

Prosecutors also plan to ask for reimbursement for the animals' care after Malpher sued the state over the seizure.

Not until 2008 did the Maine Judicial Court rule that the state had the right to take the animals.

Until then, the state had to provide the animals shelter and medical care until they could be adopted later.

The Bangor Daily News says prosecutors plan to ask Malpher to reimburse the state for those expenses which could total $100,000..." More