Case draws animal activists

Police remove 101 animals from couple’s Troy home

A city couple accused of hoarding more than 100 animals inside a home on Campbell Avenue appeared briefly in City Court Thursday but the judge quickly postponed the case until next month.

David R. Hempstead and Michele Hempstead of 92 Campbell Ave. said nothing to visiting Judge Carmelo Laquidara before the decision was made to adjourn the matter until March 7. Laquidara was sitting in for Judge Christopher T. Maier.

The Hempsteads are represented by different attorneys, one of whom was out of town on Thursday, prompting the adjournment.

A group of animal rights activists were at court to protest the case, including one woman who said she bought a puppy from the couple in 2010 that turned out to be gravely ill.

The group, calling themselves Justice for the Hundred, wants the couple charged with felony aggravated cruelty to animals. Currently the Hempsteads face 17 misdemeanor counts of injuring an animal under the state Agriculture and Markets law, according to the Rensselaer County District Attorney’s Office.

Michele Hempstead

also was charged with two counts related to the sale of diseased animals.

Dolores Bacon said she bought Chloe, a 4-monthold Maltese-yorkie mix, from Michele Hempstead after seeing an online advertisement for the dog.

Two days after she bought the dog she rushed the dog to a veterinarian after finding it unresponsive in its crate, Bacon said Thursday. The vet told her Chloe was dehydrated, starving and was sick with canine parvovirus and a bacterial infection.

Bacon said she later became sick from that same infection. Bacon contacted the police, news media and others afterward but said nothing was done.

“We’d like to get the laws changed so this doesn’t continue to happen,” she said Thursday. “Who’s to say they’re not going to walk out of here and start over again? We can’t have that.”

The arrests of the Hempsteads were announced on Feb. 15. A total of 101 animals were rescued from their house.

Police went to the residence on Dec. 18 where they discovered the animals encrusted in feces, infested with fleas and worms, and suffering hair loss from scratching. Authorities took 38 dogs, 38 cats, six ferrets, 18 birds and a hedgehog to the Mohawk Hudson Humane Society in Menands.

Paul Buckowski / Times Union David Hempstead, left, and Michele Hempstead appear in Troy City Court on Thursday. The two are being charged with hoarding animals at a home on Campbell Avenue in Troy.

Paul Buckowski / times union Blake o’dell of delmar and other members of a local animal rights group protest outside troy City Court on thursday in troy. michele Hempstead and her husband david Hempstead were in court where they are being charged with hoarding animals at a home on Campbell Avenue. After a brief court appearance, the case was postponed.