Solon: Couple charged with animal cruelty, child-endangering can return home

4:28 PM, Nov 17, 2010   |    comments
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According to the court's Chief Deputy Clerk John Garmone, the Friedmans cannot have any animals in the home nor any minor children.

But Judge Harry J. Jacob III allowed the Friedmans to visit their daughters who have been living with relatives in Florida. No trial date has been set.

Police allege that last summer, Steven Friedman, 58, a podiatrist, and his wife, Heidi, 48, abandoned three birds, a rabbit and 33 dogs, puppies, cats and guinea pigs in their feces-filled home when they and their three daughters -- ages 20, 15 and 16 -- went out of town on an extended trip to Boynton Beach, Florida.

They also have a 22-year-old son who did not live in the home.

All of the animals except a parakeet had to be euthanized.

Read WKYC Aug. 17 article

The couple is charged with 39 counts of animal cruelty and two counts of child endangering. Both are represented by attorney Edward W. Rausch and oth have pleaded not guilty to all the charges.

On Aug. 13, a neighbor called police and reported that the couple and their three children had gone on vacation Aug. 2, leaving the windows closed and the air conditioner off, even as the outside temperature rose to 90 degrees.

When police arrived, officres and two animal wardens could smell feces, urine and ammonia outside the house, and saw that fleas were jumping on their clothes outside in the yard.

Police called the Friedmans and were given permission to enter the house by using the garage door code. One officer made it into the home but immediately got out, saying that it was too dangerous to enter. 

In the end, Solon firefighters brought their HAZMAT gear to use to enter the home and remove the animals.

WKYC-TV