GENEVA — Two city residents have been sentenced to probation after each pleaded guilty to animal cruelty charges, Ontario District Attorney Jason MacBride announced Monday.
The sentences follow the rescue of 18 dogs from what authorities called “severe neglect conditions” at a city home last October.
Acting Ontario County Supreme Court Judge Gregory McCaffrey sentenced Brian Hess and RoseMarie Bruno-Hess to five years’ probation after they pleaded guilty to aggravated cruelty to animals, a felony. They were also ordered to pay $1,240 in restitution and waived their rights to appeal, MacBride said.
“This case reflects the serious consequences of animal cruelty and the importance of swift intervention when animals are suffering,” said MacBride. “We are grateful to all agencies involved for ensuring these animals were removed from dangerous conditions.”
The Ontario County Humane Society said at the time of the arrest in 2025 that the charges followed a complaint of several dogs appearing to be malnourished and living in unsanitary conditions at an Avenue B residence.
After getting a search warrant, humane society officers, with assistance from city police, searched the property, where they found eight young dogs living in a camper. The agency said the dogs were “living amidst significant accumulations of dog feces on the floor, with very little food or water available.”
Similar conditions were found in the main residence, the humane society said, and 10 additional dogs were found inside the home, also without access to food or water.
Eight other dogs were found dead inside an unpowered freezer chest in the kitchen “in various states of decomposition.”
The rescued dogs were taken to the humane society’s Happy Tails Animal Shelter.
The city’s Code Enforcement Office condemned the house and camper.
After seizing the dogs, the humane society was forced to close to the public temporarily in order to care for the animals, some of whom did not survive.