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Cat hoarder gets three years probation
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“A number of decomposed cats were left behind, deep piles of feces everywhere, urine-soaked floors, maggots, roaches and flying insects,” said Nadia Wasserman, the next-door neighbor of Ayten Icgoren, 80, who originally faced 153 counts of animal cruelty and neglect charges.
“We are sickened every time we think about what happened next door,” Wasserman testified.
Icgoren was sentenced to 360 days in jail, all of which were suspended by Judge Neil Axel, who prohibited her from ever owning or caring for any animals and placed her on three years probation with routine house checks by Howard County Animal Control. Icgoren also must pay more than $10,000 in restitution to Howard County Animal Control.
Icgoren also has a 2003 animal cruelty conviction for mistreating cats and was ordered to undergo a psychiatric evaluation in March.
“It’s clear you do not understand or recognize the nature of what has occurred... due to a mental health condition experts refer to as animal hoarding,” Axel told Icgoren.
“The chance of relapse unfortunately is extremely high, which is why regular inspections are appropriate and necessary.”
After neighbors complained several times about the foul odor and insect infestation, Animal Control officers removed 75 cats in August 2006 from the townhouse on Swan Point Way that she shared with her 50-year-old daughter Nese Icgoren. Of the 75 cats removed, 58 were critically ill and 17 were already dead, according to the police report.
Icgoren, in a lengthy plea to the judge, said her neighbors were liars who never saw the inside of her home and blamed her for the neighborhood’s roach infestation.
Neighbors who testified said that the house still reeks of urine and that the county Health Department has allowed Icgoren to clean as she chooses without any guidelines.
More than a year later, the odor still prevents neighbors from sitting on their decks or having company over for dinner.
“We cannot enjoy our home and our quality of life has diminished,” Wasserman said.
“Our nightmare has not ended with the removal of the cats.”
cpeirce@baltimoreexaminer.com
Comments from Examiner Readers
1:44 PM MST on Sat., May. 31, 2008 re: "Cat hoarder gets three years probation"
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12:35 PM MST on Wed., May. 28, 2008
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9:41 AM MST on Fri., Oct. 5, 2007
re: "Cat hoarder gets three years probation"
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J. Gault said:
Looking at my previous post I didn't mean to sound so harsh. I knew Mrs. Igoren and her daughter in the late '80s and I can tell you that they truly believe they 'rescue' these animals. They don't set out to trap and torture animals but the effect is the same. The Icgorens also believe they are persecuted by people who don't understand their 'love' of animals and are very hostile to those who interfere. It is only because the Icgorens always provide a very aggressive legal defense to these continuing charges that, I believe, they haven't gotten the deep psychiatric help they so dearly need. Until reading this article I'd never read or heard the expression 'cat hoarding' before but it is the most apt term. They truly 'hoard' animals of any species they can get their hands on. It is a complusion they can not resist and will not resist until they undergo a complete change in understanding about the harm they do.
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J. Gault said:
For some reason, every time I post here it is removed.... Anyway, this is an old problem for the Icgorens. They were big news back in 1986 when their horses, starved and neglected, were removed by animal control. In addition 30 dogs were euthanized and scores of cats removed. All of this is in the Albemarle County record. Mrs. Icgoren eventually lost her horse farm to back taxes. Her son is indeed a convicted murderer. He killed an 80+ year old man who sold souvenirs at a MD racetrack: his nickname was "Pops." The Icgorens will do as they always do: move to a new town and mistreat animals. After 20 years do you think they will stop?
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EXAMINER READER said:
Ayten Icgoren, whose son is a convicted murderer, and her daughter have and always been nuttier than fruitcakes. I had no idea they were still living in Maryland, much less in Columbia.
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