SOMERVILLE -- A Somerville dog breeder recently accused of aggravated animal cruelty had her home raided, animals seized and faced similar criminal charges 14 years ago, at a time when she was not licensed to breed or kennel animals, state records show.

Fern Clark was acquitted in 1994 of animal-cruelty charges but she was convicted of assaulting a state animal-welfare agent who was in the process of investigating complaints against her. The assault charge was a misdemeanor.

Clark, 78, last month pleaded not guilty to five felony counts of aggravated animal cruelty, charges that stem from a raid on her home Jan. 19. Seventy-one animals -- 66 dogs, four cats and a cockatiel -- were removed. Among the animals removed were two dead canines found in a freezer, state officials say. An additional sixteen misdemeanor counts related to animal cruelty have been filed, court records reveal.

The case has raised the ire of animal lovers across the region, particularly from two women who, at one point, were would-be customers of Clark's Star Fire Star animal-breeding facility: Linda Moody-Terrell of Farmingdale, and Jessica Andrews of Boston. In separate interviews, both women said they left Clark's home empty-handed -- and disgusted -- after visiting the kennel.

Moody-Terrell and Andrews said they complained to the state's Animal Welfare Program, which is part of the Agriculture Department, long before January of this year.

But state officials said they didn't have the evidence they needed to raid the home until a Massachusetts woman was stopped by police in New Hampshire in January. Amy Moolic, of Dracut, Mass., was arrested Jan. 16 in Salem, N.H. after she was found to have 22 dogs -- two dead -- inside her vehicle. Moolic told police she "saved" 10 of the animals from a puppy mill in Somerville owned by Clark.

Since January, the Kennebec Journal and Morning Sentinel have been investigating Clark, her Somerville operation and how much the state knew about the dog breeder prior to the January raid. The newspapers used Maine's Freedom of Access law to seek public documents about Clark and Star Fire Star. After twice declining to release the records, the state did so last spring.

Those documents from the Animal Welfare Program, which tracks breeder and kennel licenses and investigates cases of animal neglect and abuse, show that the department knew of Clark's previous encounter with state animal-welfare agents and her former arrest.

The documents show 14 reported complaints were filed about Clark's business from 1997 to 2007.

And, the records show that the kennel licenses Clark needed to keep animals on her property were given to her by the town of Somerville from at least 2004 to 2006 without a mandatory inspection by the town's animal-control officer.

Animal Welfare Program Director Norma Worley acknowledged that some people have been critical of how her office has handled Clark's operation. Worley said the office moved carefully with the Clark case and, as a result, Clark faces five felony charges related to animal cruelty. If convicted, she could face up to 25 years in prison and/or up to $25,000 in fines.

"This is a felony case, and that is one of the reason we didn't want to rush judgment on (the situation)," Worley said. "I am confident in our case."

ANIMALS SEIZED...AND RETURNED

On April 1, 1994, two deputies from the Lincoln County Sheriff's Office were asked to assist three state animal-welfare agents who were executing a search warrant on Clark's property.

In a narrative police report, Lt. William Lewis from the sheriff's office said the state had become aware that Clark was allegedly keeping animals without a license to do so. A warrant was obtained for further investigation.

They were not well-received by Clark, both Lewis and Sgt. Clayton Jordan said in separate police reports in 1994. The Somerville woman "made several attempts to place herself in the way of the humane agents" and aggressively tried to stop law-enforcement officials from seizing the animals, Lewis said in his police report.

While agents were investigating the home, Clark "suddenly jumped from her chair with a cordless phone in her hand and struck Agent Lorraine Nickerson several times in the head and shoulder area," Lewis wrote in the police report.

Months later, in November of that year, Clark was convicted of assaulting Nickerson -- but she was acquitted of animal cruelty. The animals were returned to her custody, records from the Animal Welfare Program say.

What remains unclear, however, is exactly what happened in the case itself.

Court records of the animal-cruelty charges were destroyed several years ago because, according to Lincoln County Assistant District Attorney Andrew Wright, animal cruelty was not considered a felony 14 years ago. The Lincoln County Court system disposes of misdemeanor records a decade after they are filed, Wright said.

Augusta-based attorney David Lipman confirmed he represented Clark in the 1994 case but declined to discuss the case further, saying it was "the client's matter." Clark's son, Matthew Clark, has declined comment on his mother's behalf multiple times.

Andrews Campbell, who represents Clark concerning the new animal-cruelty charges, said past charges are irrelevant.

"Anyone can charge anyone with anything," Campbell said. "And she was acquitted."

Worley, who was an animal-cruelty investigator in California in 1994, said she was aware of the past allegations made against Clark but knew too little about the 1994 case to comment.

In the weeks following Clark's 1994 animal-cruelty acquittal and assault conviction, records show she applied for a breeding kennel license -- allowing her to legally breed and sell animals -- and started doing business as Star Fire Star.

MORE COMPLAINTS

Since Star Fire Star's inception, the Animal Welfare Program has placed 14 complaints about the facility on file, twice as many as state officials said they had on file after Clark's January 2008 arrest.

The complaints, which start in 1997, range from Clark allegedly passing off pups as pure bred when they were not, to "filthy conditions," to accusations the Somerville woman was selling animals with upper respiratory diseases, worms and fleas.

In a January interview, Worley said seven complaints from 2002 were on file against Clark. An additional seven, from 1997 to 2001, were found in state records obtained through the newspapers' Freedom of Access requests.

A now-retired animal-welfare agent named Thomas Eddy investigated all but three of the 14 reported complaints. The two most recent reported complaints were investigated by Chris Fraser, a state veterinarian; the other was handled by agent Sue Metzger, who passed the case on to another employee after Clark refused Metzger entry.

In addition to investigating most of the complaints filed against Clark, Eddy also conducted all state inspections of the home until his 2005 retirement, records show. The inspection records indicated Clark's home met conditions for operating a breeding kennel where animals could be sold.

However, it would be the responsibility of the town of Somerville to conduct its own inspections to issue kennel licenses so Clark could legally keep the dozens of animals on her property.

During a recent interview, Worley maintained her office had done all it legally could to stop Clark -- until it was able to secure a search warrant to seize animals from the Somerville home in January of this year, following the incident in New Hampshire.

"I know we were criticized, and unfairly I feel, for moving too slowly. But by taking our time, we did it right," Worley said. "We now have five felony charges and 16 criminal charges."

The number of complaints was not what animal-welfare agents needed to act, Worley said. Rather, the state needed a documented account from someone who had been in the upstairs of the Clark house, where the animals were kept.

That account came from Linda Moody-Terrell, the Farmingdale woman who visited Clark's home in February of 2005 to purchase a Chihuahua.

Moody-Terrell said she, her brother, Richard Moody, and her adult son, Aaron Hall, went to the upper level of the house to see all the animals. In often-graphic writing to the Animal Welfare Program, the three people described dogs kept in rabbit hutches, an odor that was "eye-watering" and a floor "slick with feces and urine."

In an interview last spring, Moody-Terrell expressed frustration that authorities had not shut down the facility.

Worley acknowledged Moody-Terrell's frustration and the letter.

"I am not questioning what they wrote, in fact, we sent a humane agent to investigate, " Worley said. "But the problem is, the agent found the house was clean and the dogs specifically complained about were under the care of a vet, and we have those records."

Without a corroborating report from the investigating agent, Worley said, "no district attorney's office in this state would ever touch it at that point."

NO INSPECTIONS

Under Maine state law, breeders must have a breeding license from the Animal Welfare Program if they sell more than 16 puppies in a 12-month time frame. Kennel owners need municipality-issued licenses to keep the animals on their property.

Kennel owners -- those who do not necessarily breed animals, but keep more than five with the purpose of showing them at exhibitions, using them as hunting dogs or training the animals professionally -- must only have a municipal license. A municipal license can only be issued after the town's animal-control officer inspects the premises and approves the facility.

State animal-welfare agents conduct inspections for breeding licenses, according to state law, but local animal control officers must conduct a separate inspection in order to issue kennel licenses, according to Worley.

State and town records indicate Somerville town officials allowed Clark to renew her kennel licenses despite not having her home and property inspected by the animal-control officer.

A November 2006 letter from Chris Fraser, the state veterinarian, to the Animal Welfare Program, detailed a complaint that Fraser had investigated against Star Fire Star. Fraser stated the town's animal-control officer, Jesse Turner, had not been allowed into the Clark house to conduct a mandated inspection for a kennel license.

"I asked if the town clerk just issued the kennel licenses, then, without a municipal inspection, and (Jesse Turner) said that was right," Fraser's letter said.

When Turner was finally allowed on to Clark's property in May 2007, he said "everything was met at the time."

"(Fern Clark) told me the animals were her pets only," Turner said, a month after the January raid. "She wasn't using them for breeding."

Kennel licenses for the over 50 animals were approved.

CLARK TO GO ON TRIAL

Campbell, Clark's attorney for the 2008 animal-cruelty charges, says state officials are trying to make the January raid "look worse than it is."

"The state is fast to charge a lot of people these days, and you just wonder what good this does anybody," he said. "I don't see how it benefits society."

Campbell acknowledged cases involving animal abuse are typically difficult "because of the emotions that people -- all of us -- have about animals," but he said, on behalf of his client, there was no wrongdoing on Clark's part.

"Many of these animals were older and they probably would've died soon anyway," Campbell said. "Within the best of her means, my client was taking care of them."

According to court records, the 78-year-old Somerville woman is mentally competent to stand trial. She is scheduled to go on trial Oct. 7 in Lincoln County, court records show.

Meghan V. Malloy -- 623-3811 Ext. 431 or

mmalloy@centralmaine.com