Michigan Woman Thrown in Jail for Failing to License Dog

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Authorities have agreed to drop charges against a western Michigan woman who was frisked, fingerprinted and held for three hours for failing to renew the license for her family’s 11-year-old dog, Dexter.

Becky Rehr, 47, of Cooper Township, told The Kalamazoo Gazette that she took a $35 receipt showing she had licensed Dexter to the Kalamazoo County Sheriff’s Office on June 23. Rehr expected it to be a routine trip, but instead, she was held for three hours while her 14-year-old daughter waited outside.

Officials were acting on a warrant from the Kalamazoo County Animal Control Office, where officials maintained Rehr had repeatedly been warned, the last time on May 28, to pay past-due license renewal fees or risk arrest.

“They frisked me and put me in this intake cell with all these inmates in orange jumpsuits,” Rehr told the Kalamazoo newspaper. “I was pretty nervous.”

Failure to license a dog is punishable by up to 90 days in jail and $100 fine.

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County animal control Director Steve Lawrence said his office prefers to settle such matters out of court. “It’s just a $10 license,” he said. “For some reason, some people like to make it hard for themselves.”

Rehr said her intent wasn’t to skip out on the debt. “But with the end of the school year and my job, it just totally got put on the back burner,” she said.

On Monday, Rehr told The Kalamazoo Gazette in an email that her arraignment, which had been scheduled for Tuesday, had been called off and the charges against her withdrawn.

“I don’t have to go to court and I get my bond money back,” she wrote. “I’m free!”

Dismissals are routine in cases such as this when the defendant provides proof of renewal, Kalamazoo Chief Assistant Prosecutor Carrie Klein said.