Sanctuary sues local SPCA for return of 45 seized animals

The owners of Noah’s Park Retreat in Goshen, N.Y., are suing the Hudson Valley Society for the Prevention of Animals (HVSPCA) in federal court for $385,000 and the return of 45 animals they claim were illegally seized in September 2022.

They claim the seizure is part of an ongoing money-making scheme. The seized animals – including pigs, miniature horses, a miniature donkey, sheep, peacocks, a goose, a medley of chickens and Mandarin ducks that the owners had incubated and hatched from eggs – remain unaccounted for, more than seven months after a judge ordered their return.

The neglect charges against Noah’s Park have been dismissed.

“They left us financially pretty devastated,” said Diana McGowan, co-owner of the sanctuary with Rebecca Vives. “They set out to destroy us, and we’re just hoping to seek some sort of justice.”

The Noah’s Park owners accused HVSPCA President Joan Kay and Chief Humane Law Enforcement Officer Eugene Hecht of unreasonable search and seizure, unjust enrichment and intentional infliction of emotional distress, in a complaint filed Feb. 20 in U.S. District Court, White Plains.

The HVSPCA could not be reached by press time.

The accusations come on the heels of a similar lawsuit facing the HVSCPA, by another Goshen resident, Corbett Hoffman. Hoffman’s French bulldog was seized in May 2021, used in an online fundraising campaign and subsequently lost, according to the complaint, filed Oct. 29, 2023, in the same court.

The Hoffman home and Noah’s Park are less than a mile apart, on the same road in Goshen – the first on a long list of similarities between the two cases.

Both plaintiffs claim that the SPCA lied about the health of the seized animals in order to use them as “fundraising pawns,” as described in the Noah’s Park complaint.

And both allege that the illegal confiscation and subsequent loss of their animals is part of a pattern of lawless searches and seizures around the county that comprises a money-making scheme for the HVSPCA.

The group allegedly uses its famous front man – Paul Teutel Sr. of the TV show Orange County Choppers – “to provide an artificial face of legitimacy to their scheme,” according to the Noah’s Park complaint. Teutel Sr. filed for bankruptcy in 2018 and moved to Florida, but is still vice president of the HVSPCA board.

Police involvement

In both cases, Goshen Town Police officers accompanied the HVSPCA for the animal seizures. That’s why Hoffman is suing not only Hecht, Kay and the HVSPCA, but also the Town of Goshen, a sergeant and officer of the Goshen Town Police, and Matthew Hughes, shelter manager at the HVSPCA.

Hoffman’s suit names Sgt. James Boyd and Officer Luke Markiewicz, whose arrival she claims intimidated her into handing her dog over to Matthew Hughes of the HVSPCA, a stranger who showed up at her house in plain clothes with no warrant, according to the complaint. The town police were not properly trained on Fourth Amendment requirements regarding when a search warrant is necessary, the complaint alleges.

Goshen Town Police Chief James Post told Straus News he couldn’t comment on the suit — one of two currently facing the town police — referring to them as “both nothings,” and the Hoffman case as “the lighter of the two.”

The Goshen Town Police met with HVSPCA President Joan Kay late last summer, Post said, to tighten up protocol for scenarios when the police escort the HSVPCA on calls, which he said typically concern horses or dogs.

After the Goshen Humane Society owners retired, the Hudson Valley SPCA “moved right into the town, I can look out the window and see them,” said Post. “When they came into the town, since we’re going to be working very closely with them and there is no more humane society, we did have a meeting with the presiden. And yes, now there’s more guidelines that are going to be in place as far as when it comes time to go to homes and be a police presence and possibly seize animals. Yes, we had a long discussion about it and everything’s good,” he said. “But we have a great working relationship, they’re good people and they work really hard over there, and they do a good job. And it’s often a thankless job.”

As for the police presence at Hoffman’s house, they were called there by HVSPCA as a “supportive agency,” argued the officers’ lawyer in a March 6 pretrial filing. The police did not take Hoffman’s dog or enter her house. “The officers reasonably relied on Hecht’s representation that pursuant to (an Agricultural & Markets law pertaining to mistreated animals) ... the dog could be seized based on his visibly unhealthy condition,” wrote attorney Janine Mastellone.

Two similar cases from the same street

In both the Hoffman and Noah’s Park case, the animal seizure was triggered by a purportedly anonymous tip. In both seizures, there was no proper warrant: there was no warrant at all in Hoffman’s case, and the Noah’s Park warrant was allegedly defective because Hecht didn’t include the sworn statement required by law, the complaints allege. Both tickets were signed by Eugene Hecht, charging “failure to provide proper sustenance.”

Both plaintiffs say they were asked to pay exorbitant bills – $16,000 and $14,000, respectively – for per-diem boarding and vet bills for their seized animal(s) while in custody, which they refused to do.

The $16,000 bill was presented to the Noah’s Park owners in court as the term of a plea bargain. When they heard what it would cost them to get their animals back, “our jaws hit the floor,” said Vives. The bill arrived by way of a hand-written note from Hecht, which was produced in court by Assistant District Attorney Amanda Arroyo, who declined to provide a copy to the women’s lawyer, according to the Noah’s Park complaint.

If the women had agreed to pay the bill - payable to Hecht or the HVSPCA – the Orange County District Attorney would have reduced their criminal neglect charge to disorderly conduct, according to the Noah’s Park complaint.

Where are the animals?

Both plaintiffs say the HVSPCA or partner agencies promoted their animal(s) on social media for fundraising campaigns. And in both cases, the HVSPCA ignored a Goshen judge’s order to return the animal(s), and the whereabouts of the animal(s) remain a mystery well over a year after they were taken.

It’s coming up on three years since the Hoffman family has seen Camo, their French bulldog. A lawyer for the HVSPCA said that Camo is “out of state,” according to the complaint.

“Defendant SPCA admitted that it had allowed one of its employees to take possession and control of Camo, represented that the dog had been transported out of state and that it was powerless to retrieve the animal,” the complaint says.

Both cases, brought by different lawyers, have landed in the same federal court because they raise the question of whether the animal-owners’ Constitutional rights were violated, namely their Fourth Amendment right to be free from unreasonable search and seizure and unreasonable governmental intrusion into one’s home.

Carries a gun and ‘acts with impunity’

Hecht, 81, carries the imprimatur of New York State as a certified humane law enforcement officer for Orange County. He wears a uniform and badge, carries a gun, has the power to write tickets and request search and seizure warrants, and, according to the Noah’s Park complaint, “has no direct supervisor and acts with impunity.” Hecht and his wife comprise half the “key employees” of the HVSPCA, according to IRS filings. Hecht, who created his own position as a humane law enforcement officer in 2009, declined to answer questions about his salary when reached last year. Hecht spends 10 hours a week on his job as HVSPCA secretary, according to the non-profit’s 990, but salaries are unitemized.

Hecht has a felony conviction for vehicle fraud from 1983, when he owned an auto garage.

When asked last year if he had any plans of retiring, Hecht responded, “No, no, no. I love animals. I love animals. We’re the voice for them. If we didn’t do it, nobody would do it.”

‘They destroyed my reputation’

“Not everyone can fight back,” said Hoffman, who estimates she has spent more than $20,000 in legal bills since Camo was taken. She describes being publicly maligned in what she calls “trial by media” and “personality assassination.”

“What they did to me is they knew what they had done was sloppy, so after the case was dismissed they went to the media with smoke and mirrors,” she said. “They basically destroyed my reputation. I wouldn’t go out in Goshen. I used Instacart for two years because I wouldn’t go out.

“I hide, now,” she said, though she added that she is making an effort to get back out there.

As for the care of the dog she was charged with neglecting, “I had a car seat I bought for Camo, and the food he was eating was better than humans eat. It’s just ridiculous,” she said. “He slept in bed with our son every night.”

Hughes, the HVSPCA shelter manager who took Camo, didn’t take her second dog, Hoffman pointed out, though he allegedly commented that the Weimaraner was also too skinny. Nor did anyone follow up to check on the Weimaraner, said Hoffman.

“They cherry-picked my Frenchy, the number one most stolen dog,” she believes because of its value. “It’s like the ‘it’ dog,’” she said. “That just shows you what kind of people they are.”

An easy target

The Noah’s Park owners believe they were seen as an easy target because of their precarious finances and their age. “He knew we were fighting foreclosure,” said McGowan, 80, of Hecht, the humane law enforcement officer who seized their animals. “We’re the little guy that didn’t have money to fight back, and I think he deliberately targeted us.”

The day of the seizure, Hecht allegedly said to Stephen Mullkoff, the Noah’s Park lawyer who has taken the case pro bono: “I don’t believe they can care for the animals based on their advanced age, and one of them uses an oxygen tank,” according to the complaint.

An animal lover who has adopted dogs from Vives and McGowan, Mullkoff drove up from Manhattan to Goshen after getting word of the seizure in progress, arriving just in time to stop the removal of a Highland cow named Blondie.

Vives, 83, has a single lung and uses an oxygen tank, but bristles at Hecht’s assumption that her health status disqualifies her from running her business of nearly four decades.

“I got cancer, big deal, you know, I don’t care. I’m doing well, I’m able to do my work. I love my animals, I take care of them, and I’m responsible. Just because you have cancer doesn’t mean you’re dead,” she said, pointing out that Hecht is also in his 80s.

The women have hired help to assist with chores, but given their finances, the employee now only comes in a couple times a week.

Vives called the initial charges of neglect “such a lie. That’s so humiliating for them to be telling other people. They all hate us here and I just don’t understand why. It’s going to be 40 years I’ve been serving these people.”

Over the years Noah’s Park has been cited for a number of “non-critical” issues like jagged fencing and insufficient ventilation in a basement habitat, but it has been through a particularly rocky patch the last couple years. The sanctuary lost its license to exhibit in May 2022 after a pair of wallabies escaped and one ended up dead. It regained its license in June 2023, after passing its USDA inspection with no problems identified. At its most recent surprise inspection in October, Veterinary USDA Medical Officer Keri Lupo noted two concerns: exposed screwheads on the door to the porcupine enclosure and the need for environmental enhancement for the birds, to promote psychological wellbeing. Both were “non-critical issues” that did not have a serious impact on animal welfare.

As for the motivation behind the seizure of their animals, the Noah’s Park owners suspect that the HVSPCA actually has its eye on their 7.3-acre property, which has been in and out of foreclosure for years.

The Goshen property “would perfectly suit Defendant HVSPCA’s need for a new facility,” the complaint alleges. “There’s a kennel here, a veterinary office, three fields,” Vives said. “It’s a beautiful property. We kept it up.”

Though they’ve all but given up seeing most of their animals again, the Noah’s Park owners are holding out hope for the two miniature horses, which they believe are still at Pets Alive, a shelter in Middletown that accompanied Hecht for the animal seizure, providing transport vehicles and manpower. Pets Alive housed the larger animals immediately after the seizure – the pigs, sheep, mini horses and a mini donkey – before transferring the pigs to Two by Two Animal Haven in Dutchess County, N.Y., according to Pets Alive Executive Director Becky Tegze in 2022.

Freckles the miniature donkey was featured on Pets Alive’s social media, where he was represented as rescued from neglect, until he was, according to the shelter’s Facebook page, adopted in July.

Tegze could not be reached by press time. Pets Alive is in the midst of building a new, 12,000-square-foot, $4.5 million facility to replace its 50-year-old kennel.

Behind on bills but still open

After the loss of their most popular animals, Noah’s Park is basically “destitute,” said Vives. But they are still open for tours, with a renewed license to exhibit animals.

On a recent Sunday in March, a family of three was touring the sanctuary when this reporter arrived, getting a tour from one of three volunteers who were helping out. Vives, wearing her oxygen backpack, came outside with a yellow bucket to feed the emu – which is taller and possibly heavier than she is – a process that involved struggling with the padlock that the women installed on animal enclosures in the wake of Hecht’s seizure. Another volunteer, retired reading teacher Karen Lang, was organizing a kids’ scavenger hunt around the property. Blondie, the shaggy Highland cow that was nearly seized a year and a half ago, calmly munched hay and ate alfalfa pellets out of visitors’ hands.

The sanctuary still houses an array of animals – 29 according to last fall’s USDA inspection – including Blondie, an emu, a wallaby, Patagonian cavies, a laughing kookaburra, a kinkajou, guinea hens, chickens, a macaw, a Brazilian three-banded armadillo, a rabbit, a chinchilla, marmosets, an African crested porcupine and an umbrella cockatoo as well as dogs that are boarded on the property.

“We have managed with social security and one or two people who have been donating” things like dog food, said Vives. The season-opener is a planned Mother’s Day event featuring a children’s business fair where kids sell their own crafts, and a butterfly release in the geodesic dome, which will be planted with milkweed.

The sanctuary’s reputation has suffered, said McGowan, plus people have been uncertain whether or not they’re open.

“We’re well behind on our utilities,” said McGowan. “It’s scary.”