Woman gets probation for child, animal neglect
NEWARK — A Newark woman was ordered to pay nearly $5,500 to cover the costs to care for dozens of pets removed from her former Buckeye Lake residence last year as part of an animal and child neglect case.
Toni Lichwa, 39, also must serve four years of probation and complete 150 hours of community service and counseling and other requirements to avoid possible jail or prison time.
Licking County Common Pleas Judge David Branstool handed down the sentence Tuesday, weeks after Lichwa pleaded guilty to multiple counts of cruelty to companion animals and endangering children.
She and her boyfriend, Howard McNemar, 49, were arrested in late August after officers removed a child and dozens of animals from their Walnut Road mobile home. Humane Society officials called the scene among the worst they had experienced, with case workers having to wear protective gear to enter the premises.
The couple’s daughter was found covered in fleas and flea bites and animal feces. Lichwa She was removed by children’s services workers that day and placed into foster care with a relative.
The couple said that Lichwa’s mother had left the animals in their care and moved out of town.
Lichwa and McNemar faced 10 counts of animal cruelty and two counts of child endangerment, and Lichwa was charged with an additional count of falsification after lying to investigators.
McNemar was sentenced by Branstool in February to five years of probation and barred from having pets after pleading guilty in the case.
Lichwa apologized again in court Tuesday, saying, “I am horrified and very sorry for what I’ve done.”
Branstool noted that Lichwa had already served more than 200 days in the county jail, had virtually no prior criminal record and was on medication for mental-health issues.
Assistant Prosecutor Cliff Murphy said afterward that both Lichwa and McNemar should have received prison sentences.
“What their conduct is and when you look at the residence, it’s horrible,” he said. “How would you like to be that child?”