Former Fall River woman sentenced to jail after disturbing case of animal cruelty

A 46-year-old former Fall River woman and current New Bedford resident was convicted of animal cruelty charges after a New Bedford District Court jury trial on Monday, and sentenced to serve jail time, Bristol County District Attorney Thomas Quinn announced.

Additionally, the defendant’s 26-year-old daughter, who was also facing animal cruelty charges, was re-arrested Monday night and charged with 39 new counts of animal cruelty.

Korina Ferreira was convicted by a jury of her peers of two counts of animal cruelty connected to a late 2020 investigation by New Bedford Police and Animal Control Officers.  She was sentenced by Judge Joseph Harrington Jr. to two-and-a-half years in the Bristol County House of Corrections, with one year to serve and the balance suspended.  She was also placed on probation for an additional five years and ordered to not own or work with any animals.  If she is charged with committing a new crime during the pendency of her probation, she is liable to serve the remaining 18 months of the two-and-a-half-year jail term.

The trial was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Karlyn Butler.

On December 1, 2020, after receiving an anonymous call concerning the welfare of animals, New Bedford Animal Control Officers responded to a Cedar Street apartment in New Bedford. Korina Ferreira and Alexis Santin, the defendant’s daughter, were present. Officer Brandon George and Officer Emanuel Maciel entered the apartment and immediately smelled feline urine. Officers noted fly traps in the living room completely covered with flies and flies flying all around the apartment. There was a fish tank with eight goldfish, which had a green tint and dirt floating on the surface of the water. Ferreira stated she accidentally dropped a plant into the tank and the tank was green when they purchased it.

In the kitchen, officers noted dishes everywhere. There were three bowls of dog food but no water. Officers were told the dogs could only be provided water in intervals, due to one of the dogs throwing up the water. The officers testified at trial that once the dogs were in their custody, none of the dogs threw up water.

When officers asked to view the dogs, which were in a bedroom, Ferreira told officers they could not view the dogs because the dogs did not like men and would attack. At trial, Officer Maciel testified that the dogs never attempted to attack.

Officers were also told by Ferreira that there were five cats in the apartment that they could not see because they would escape and attack. While next to the bedroom where the cats were locked in, officers noted a very strong odor of cat urine and feces and could hear cats meowing.

Officers asked Ferreira to sign a consent to search form, which she did. Officers then discovered that there were actually 13 cats kept in a small bedroom that was filled with urine and feces. Due to the overwhelming smell of noxious levels of ammonia, officers dressed themselves in PPE to conduct the search.

The three dogs were American Bulldogs and all were 3 years old.

At trial, officers testified that the dogs were severely malnourished. Photos of the dogs were introduced as trial exhibits. “Bam Bam” (one of the dogs), was so malnourished his spine and ribs were visible. Bam Bam also had clear injuries to his face and rump. Officer Maciel testified the injuries were consistent with something continuously rubbing on the dog and compared the injuries to bed sores.

Pictures of the dog’s bowls were also introduced during the trial, which showed feces surrounding the bowls.

Pictures of the cats and the room in which they were kept were presented to the jury. Each cat had to have flea treatment and several of the cats had injuries due to the amount to fleas. Pictures showed that the cats’ litter box was so full of feces, the cats began to use their bed as their litter box.

A total of 34 photos depicting the condition of the animals and their living environment were entered as exhibits.

At the time of her mother’s trial on Monday, Ferreira’s daughter, Alexis Santin, already had an open 2023 animal cruelty case pending in New Bedford District Court. In that pending case, New Bedford Police received a call for a report of a female who was being attacked by dogs. Upon arrival, Santin was already in the ambulance and told Officer Maciel that she was taking her dogs outside with muzzles, when one of their (Chompa) muzzles came off.  She said Chompa began attacking another dog (AJ).  Santin said she pulled Chompa into a pen where Chompa began attacking her. Santin told officers she then pulled the muzzle off of AJ to protect herself. AJ then began attacking Chompa. Officers noted blood on both dogs. In the defendant’s Cedar Street apartment, there was a strong smell of urine and feces. In one room, officers located another dog and piles of dog, cat and rabbit feces. Numerous rabbits were located and dog crates with food surrounded by feces was also observed. Chompa was ultimately euthanized. Three dogs, several rabbits and a cat were removed from the home.

Then on Monday, after receiving a call from a veterinarian who suspected abuse and neglect of a dog that was brought in for medical care, applied for and obtained a search warrant for the same Cedar Street apartment connected to both of the above cases.  On Monday night, New Bedford Animal Control Officers executed the search warrant and were immediately hit with a strong odor of urine and feces.  The apartment was covered in feces and urine. A Doberman was located in the living room. A pit Bull attached to a 3ft leash, tied to a dog crate was located, and two more dogs were found in crates. The crates were covered in animal feces, making it impossible to see the floor of the crates. The food and water bowls were empty and also had feces. Three additional dogs were in a front room. All dogs had some form of emaciation, mutilation and low weight. Five geckos were located in a terrarium with no source of heat, food or water. Some of the geckos were deceased. Two additional dogs were located in the defendant’s vehicle, hiding among clutter with no source of food and water. The carcass of a bird was also located in the apartment.

Santin was placed under arrest and charged with 39 new counts of animal cruelty.  On Tuesday in New Bedford District Court, Assistant District Attorney Butler argued that Santin’s bail on the pending animal cruelty case should be revoked, meaning the defendant could be held without bail for up to 90 days.  Judge David Sorrenti declined to revoke her bail, but did set strict conditions for her release.  Those conditions include: Do not possess or care for any animals, surrender all animals to Animal Control within two days, must no longer reside at the Cedar Street apartment, must report in person to probation once a week, must be subjected to unannounced probation visits and must attend mental health evaluation and counseling.

She is due back in court March 27 for a pretrial hearing.

“These animals were living in deplorable conditions and as a result, suffered extreme neglect that included lack of adequate food, water and care.  Many animals provide unconditional love and support to their owners, and to allow animals to live in these conditions is disgraceful,” District Attorney Quinn said of the trial conviction.  “I was very disturbed to learn the defendant’s daughter, who already has an open animal cruelty case, was arrested on the night of her mother’s conviction at the same apartment.  At the very least, neither of these women belong anywhere near any animals.  The jail sentence imposed by the court in the Ferreira case for these egregious facts was appropriate.  I want to thank New Bedford Animal Control officers for their work in these cases and many others.”