YAKIMA, Wash. – Three individuals from Yakima County are facing 11 animal cruelty charges each, with 10 being in the first degree and one in the second degree.
Court documents say Norma Lister, 80, David Schuster, 35, and Rachel Stein, 33, allegedly committed animal cruelty by not providing food, water, shelter or medical care to several dogs.
On Feb. 23, officers responded to a complaint that several dogs left their owner’s property and were running at-large near the 500 block of Meadowbrook Road.
The complainant said the dog’s owner was Stein who had around 20 dogs on her property. When contacted, Stein reportedly did not comply, stated she ran a nonprofit out of California and said that she did not have to comply with State Law or County Ordinances due to living on the Yakama Reservation.
A neighbor reported that several dogs were being kept in a motorhome on the Meadowbrook Road property with many being kept tied without access to food or water. Video of the home reportedly showed a boy kicking a dog and hitting it with a piece of wood.
Later on March 14, court documents say officers met with Schuster, Stein and Lister on the property. The three did not let officers check on the animals.
After observing from a distance what appeared to be evidence of animal cruelty, officers received a search warrant for the property. They found several dogs in extremely poor condition and shallow graves with multiple dead dogs and cats.
Court documents say the three were arrested then released on supervision by pretrial services. All three are not allowed to own or possess any animals during the case.
Schuster’s, Stein’s and Lister’s arraignments are set for April 29 in the Yakima Superior Court.
