Jun. 9—GRAYLING — A local dog breeder whose animals were previously seized by Antrim County officials investigating multiple cruelty complaints, was bound over in Crawford County on a new animal cruelty charge and will face trial.

Deborah Schultz, 70, is suspected of neglecting eight dogs in her care — six German shepherds and two small mixed-breed dogs — after a woman living in a camper on Shultz's Crawford County property called animal control.

Animal Control Officer Kari Sieniarecki told a judge during a preliminary hearing Tuesday, that she was aware of Schultz' previous conviction and made a point of introducing herself after Schultz relocated to Grayling from Mancelona.

In June 2020, 86th District Court Judge Robert Cooney sentenced Schultz to three days in jail after he agreed with prosecutors she violated her probation, which, among other conditions, banned her for two years from owning or breeding animals.

Prosecutors said Schultz had acquired German shepherd puppies and was trying to register them with the American Kennel Club, court records show.

It was at this hearing that Schultz told Cooney she was moving to Crawford County, and Cooney responded by informing Schultz he would be letting officers there know about the conditions of her probation.

A search of national AKC records shows that later that same year, on Dec. 22, 2020, the organization suspended Schultz for life and imposed a $10,000 fine, for "conduct prejudicial to purebred dogs, purebred dog events, or the best interest of the American Kennel Club."

The jail sentence and the AKC sanction arose after Antrim County officials in 2019 secured a search warrant and spent 17 hours seizing 13 dogs — 12 German shepherds and a Chihuahua — which prosecution photos showed were crated and lived in filth.

Officers reported they had to sedate some of the dogs, which were aggressive, used handcuffs and zip ties to secure their crates, then covered the crates with blankets and towels and took the dogs to the shelter.

A Mancelona veterinarian treated the dogs for skin and ear infections and open sores, an investigative report shows.

Schultz pleaded no contest to a single misdemeanor cruelty charge, the remaining charges were dismissed, she was fined $750 and given two years of probation, which Judge Cooney later charged her with violating.

Schultz's probationary term ended after July 2022, court records show, and Sieniarecki on Wednesday told 87th District Court Judge Monte J. Burmeister that was about the same time Schulz began acquiring dogs.

"There was a dog that escaped from her care, she had gotten the dog and it got away from her that day, like, within 45 minutes of her having the dog," Sieniarecki said, of her interactions with Schultz.

Sieniarecki said it was winter and still cold out, she spent weeks looking for the dog, named "Koda," was never able to find him and was dismayed at a seeming lack of interest by Schultz in the search.

"She stated she couldn't just go out and drive, she couldn't go out and walk and look for the dog," Sieniarecki said, nor had she put up flyers asking for help from the community.

Sieniarecki and another witness, Karen Sue Poll, who previously lived in a camper on Schultz's property, testified the dogs spent many hours per day inside in their crates without water, received little or no exercise, and that four of the German shepherds wore prong collars inside the crates.

"I don't know that I've seen a house where the dogs are crated to this length," Sieniarecki said, under questioning by Crawford County Prosecutor Sierra Koch.

Prong collars have interlocking metal spikes which press into a dog's neck, are used for control, and while not illegal, a third witness, veterinarian Dr. Katherine Powning, testified she would not advise their use.

Sieniarecki said when she arrived unannounced at the Schultz home, Schultz and her husband, Harlan Schultz, told her the dogs were let outside an hour per day. Sieniarecki said she saw no evidence of that and had arrived after a fresh snow and saw no paw prints anywhere in the yard.

Schultz' dogs were seized in March, Powning examined them, made notes of their medical issues and told the court one dog was underweight, two dogs had nerve issues in one of their back legs and two dogs had skin issues in or near their ears.

Powning, the supervising veterinarian at Grayling Hospital for Animals, said Schulz was briefly a client but the hospital would no longer treat her dogs after Schulz became combative with staff and declined to seek what Powning said was recommended medical care.

Judge Burmeister also questioned Powning about the neglect standard, then bound Schultz over to 46th Circuit Court for trial.

The judge twice admonished Schultz for her disruptive in-court behavior; in the minutes before the judge called the case, Schultz was also admonished by other court officers.

"She's a liar!" Schultz yelled, through sobs. "It's a lie! There's no excuse to take my dogs!"

The dogs have been adopted out to new owners, Sieniarecki told Koch, in a discussion just prior to the hearing.

Schultz is also facing what a court staff member said was a related misdemeanor charge of using a computer to commit a crime for which she faces trial in July, court records show.