TIPP CITY, Miami County — A former animal sanctuary director convicted on animal neglect charges was back in court Tuesday.
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As reported on News Center 7 at 6:00, Sophia Kartsonis, the former director of Our Farm Sanctuary, violated parole.
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43 cats were removed from the sanctuary because of poor living conditions. Six of those cats belonged to Kartsonis, according to a previous News Center 7 report.
Kartsonis was sentenced to a 90-day jail sentence on every count in October, but only spent 10 days behind bars. She also received five years of probation, according to court records.
The judge ordered that she was not allowed to own a pet or care for any animal for the rest of her life.
>>RELATED: Ex-animal sanctuary director learns sentence for animal neglect
About three months later, someone took a photo of Kartsonis with a dog at a veterinary clinic.
Her attorney claimed that the dog belonged to her husband and she was helping him out because he was dealing with health problems.
“I’m not sure if you’re trying to do end-around on me, but there’s enough doubt that I’m not going to go there,” Miami County Court of Common Pleas Judge Anthony Kendall said.
“I was wrong, and I will never let anything close to it happen again,” Kartsonis said in court.
Kartsonis was sentenced to 40 hours of community service.
Former volunteers at the sanctuary weren’t happy with the verdict.
“I’m not feeling real good about it. I mean, I guess community service. It is what it is. But I really wish she would have had to serve additional jail time,” Former volunteer Emily Cromer said.
“It’s pretty disappointing. She has not acted remorseful since July. There’s been no apologies issued to anyone,” Former volunteer Alyssa Morris said.
Judge Kendall told Kartsonis that he would be keeping a close eye on her case.
She has more than 500 days of suspended jail time that would be on the table if she violates parole again.
News Center 7 will continue to follow this story.
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