More witnesses testified in the trial of a dog breeder accused of animal cruelty.
Prosecutors say Karen Plambeck mistreated almost 200 dogs found in poor conditions almost two years ago. Plambeck maintains she’s not guilty. New body camera footage played in court, shows the night Plambeck was arrested.
The Mercer County State’s Attorney has brought in 11 witnesses to testify during this trial. The state brought in a Mercer County Sheriff’s Office sergeant, who had body camera footage of the night he arrested Karen Plambeck. Footage in the courtroom showed the moment he put handcuffs on Plambeck. The state showed the packed courtroom in Aledo over 20 minutes of body camera footage.
“I didn’t know much because I had just come on shift a few hours prior,” Sgt. Seth Nabb of the Mercer County Sheriff’s Office said. “I just know they had found some bad conditions at a kennel at the property. They were submitting her for an arrest warrant.”
Sgt. Nabb was not the only body camera footage shown in court on Thursday. A Mercer County deputy waited for Plambeck to let him in her property for over 25 minutes in August of 2022, shown in body camera footage. This led the deputy to warn Plambeck of resisting a court order.
James Unsworth, a deputy with the Mercer County Sheriff’s Office, was at Plambeck’s property assisting animal control when a court order was made to search Plambeck’s property. Unsworth testified Plambeck didn’t know the correct amount of dogs that were in her possession.
“There was a question of the residence itself,” Unsworth said. “She wasn’t open to anyone coming in.” The Mercer County State’s Attorney asked Deputy Unsworth if Plambeck mentioned how many dogs she thought were on the property. “Yes, she said 75,” Unsworth said. Detectives found almost 200 dogs at the time.
An animal hospital in Aledo who was contracted by Mercer County Animal Control at the time helped in the case as well. A practice manager from All Animal Health Care in Aledo testified Thursday, about dogs taken from Plambeck’s property they had to help.
“I just can’t even begin to explain the smell,” Nicole Joy, a Practice Manager at All Animal Healthcare, said. “I literally had to hold my shirt over my face because it was gagging me. She was covered in feces. She was matted. When we pulled the hair back, she had maggots in multiple places. It was the worst thing I have ever seen in 18 years at the clinic.”
The state’s attorney says she anticipated the last day of trial to be on Friday, if the defense does not have any more witnesses. The judge will decide if Plambeck is guilty or not guilty in the trial. It’s possible the defense team can go over the time allotted in court Friday. That could extend the trial into the following week.
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