Crime & Safety
HdG Woman Jailed for Pooches Running Wild Gets Her Dogs Back
The dogs had been staying in Cecil County until a court ruling on Wednesday.
The Havre de Grace woman who was jailed for letting her dogs run loose in Webster Village will be getting her pooches back.
As part of an agreement with Harford County, Mary Magdalene Root, 81, will pay a $500 fine after she was charged with letting seven dogs run loose—four of which she was watching for her daughter—and neglecting to obtain dog licenses, according to The Aegis.
Root spent two nights in jail last month for failing to appear for a February court date regarding the animal violations, which stemmed from photographs her neighbor took of the dogs running loose in 2013, WJZ reported.
According to WBAL, Root missed the February hearing because of medical reasons and Judge Mimi Cooper ruled that notes from her doctor didn't cut it; Cooper ordered her to be incarcerated with bail set at $2,500.
Root, of the 4100 block of Oak Drive, was committed at the Harford County Detention Center on March 5 and released the following day, court records show. She was released after a stranger posted bail.
The dogs, who have been staying at her daughter's house in Cecil County since Cooper forbade the woman from having them in Havre de Grace, will be coming home this weekend, on the condition that Root have a lock on her gate and a door bell, which WJZ reports a contractor has volunteered to install.
Harford County State's Attorney Joseph Cassilly told The Aegis there were "innumerable attempts" to get her to control the dogs in the past several years—authorities had been to the property approximately 40 times.
Among the complaints from neighbors were that the dogs would defecate on neighbors' property, bark and knock over trash cans, Cassilly said.
An online petition at Change.org received more than 3,600 signatures, calling for Harford County to drop the charges against Root and allow her to keep her dogs.
Charges against Root were not pursued in court, and she will be able to keep her pets. However, if the dogs get out again, they may be taken from her without any court proceedings, WBAL reported.
Related: Penalty for Letting Dogs Run? 81-Year-Old Harford County Woman Gets Jail
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