Animal cruelty convictions prompt prison for Central Lake woman

Dec. 13—BELLAIRE — A defense attorney and a county prosecutor separately invoked a literary classic — "Of Mice and Men" by John Steinbeck — during a hearing in 13th Circuit Court where a judge sentenced a Central Lake woman to prison for animal cruelty.

Brooklynn Beck, 29, previously arraigned on five felony counts of killing or torturing animals and one felony count of abandoning 25 or more animals, appeared Monday before Judge Thomas Power, who handed down a sentence of two to four years in prison as part of a plea agreement.

Beck previously pleaded guilty to two counts of third-degree animal cruelty, court records show.

"I just want to say that I am truly sorry and deeply saddened for the loss of my reptiles," Beck said, when Power asked if she'd like to make a statement. "I was definitely overwhelmed."

"Miss Beck, are you saddened because they were taken away from you or are you saddened because they starved to death?" Power asked.

"Everything, being overwhelmed," Beck said.

Traverse City attorney Mattias Johnson, who represented Beck in the criminal case and in a previous civil forfeiture action, said he believed Beck had mental health issues, requested probation and compared her to someone who loved a puppy so much they mistakenly squeezed it to death.

It was a characterization Antrim County Prosecutor James Rossiter did not appear to share.

"She didn't hug these things to death, she starved them to death," Rossiter said, after detailing how snakes and lizards seized by animal control officers in April had visible spines after months without food.

"Lennie hugged it to death," Rossiter countered. "She threw out 105 animals. We haven't even talked about the horse."

Lennie is a main character in the 1937 Steinbeck novella about two displaced workers who travel in search of jobs during the Great Depression. Lennie is given a puppy by an elderly ranchhand, but it dies when he pets it too roughly.

Beck and her fiancé, Michael Turland, came to northern Michigan from Arizona, court records show, rented a house on Muckle Road in Central Lake and opened a pet grooming business, House of Floof, in the village's downtown.

Beck also worked at a pet grooming business in Grand Traverse County and law enforcement was notified when one of the dogs she groomed died soon afterward, records show.

Beck faced an animal cruelty charge in 86th District Court for the death, records show, although that case was dismissed after a judge bound the Antrim County charges over to circuit court.

Rossiter said that, in initial interviews with law enforcement, Beck stated she had animals at her home — information that led to a search warrant where officials discovered dozens of malnourished animals living in filth, including a Clydesdale horse with hooves infested with maggots.

During the hearing, Power held up an evidence photo of the horse's lower leg and hoof which depicted the infestation, and he also described how the reptiles' muscles were depleted or missing from lack of nourishment.

Most of the animals that were seized had no access to clean water, Antrim County Animal Control Officer Inga Waldrep said during the forfeiture hearing take took place in October.

Waldrep said officials spent 10 hours at the property seizing 22 snakes, two ducks, three mice, 25 rats, five turtles, two cats, 10 dogs, one large tortoise, one small tortoise, one bearded dragon, one chameleon, one horse, 55 chickens, five giant rabbits, six miniature rabbits, baby rabbits, one Monitor lizard and one iguana.

The iguana died while investigators were still at the Muckle Road property, Waldrep said, and the Monitor lizard died at the county's animal control facility later that day.

Many of the other animals have been re-homed, in part with assistance from an Arizona reptile enthusiast, Kali Williams, who recovered a boa constrictor she'd lent to Turland for breeding.

"The reptiles and dogs all have loving homes and are doing well; they're healing," Williams, who spent more than $6,000 driving to Michigan, caring for the animals and re-homing them, said Monday.

A related gofundme campaign, Pet Lovers United, Bring Our Pets Home, is accepting donations.

Power on Monday also referenced the forfeiture hearing, where two veterinarians, Dr. Pamela Greenwald and Dr. Dale Ackler, detailed how a number of the animals had died and the lengths officials had gone to return those that were found alive, but neglected, back to good health.

"That is a hearing that will stay with me for a long time," Power said. "She walked by those animals, and the others, every day, day after day after day after day, and never fed them.

"I don't think the word 'cruelty' does justice to what she did."

The case captured the attention of animal advocates in at least three states, after court records in Mohave County, Ariz., and Washington County, Utah, show Beck and her fiancé, Michael Patrick Turland, 43, previously incurred animal cruelty or obstruction of justice convictions in those jurisdictions.

Turland is listed as a co-defendant in some 13th Circuit Court documents associated with Beck's charges and, as part of her bond, she was barred from having contact with him.

Power said Turland appears in an evidence video with Beck where a dog at a grooming business is being mistreated. The video is, in part, what helped establish grounds for criminal charges to be filed, records show.

Turland faces animal cruelty charges in Arizona related to an investigation there, where a landlord's complaint tipped off investigators to freezers filled with dead animals on property Turland and Beck were renting and had recently vacated, records show.

"This is not overwhelmed by life — there's malevolence here," Power said.

Rossiter and Antrim County Sheriff Dan Bean both said they believed Turland was in Michigan, a violation of his Arizona bond. Following the sentencing hearing where Beck was taken into custody, several sheriff's deputies said they'd sighted Turland inside a vehicle parked near the courthouse.

"Arizona won't do nothing. They say they're not interested. I called there because I wanted to violate him for jumping state lines," Bean said.

While Turland's case lingers in Arizona, Bean said in Michigan animal cruelty charges are taken seriously by pet owners, law enforcement and the courts.

"Justice was served here," Bean said. "She got what she had coming to her. She does need some therapy; she's obviously got problems. But I think she came to the wrong state. I really believe she came to the wrong county."

Bean credited a cooperative effort between Grand Traverse and Antrim county officials in charges being brought and successfully prosecuted.

Power on Monday also sentenced Beck to pay $16,000 in restitution and ordered she be banned from owning or caring for animals for five years and from working as a caretaker, such as a home health care aide or nurse's assistant, for the length of her probation.

Bean said he estimated the animal abuse case cost Antrim County close to $100,000 in staff time, boarding, animal feed and medical care.