Sherrard woman sentenced to 9 months in prison on animal cruelty charges

DAVENPORT, Iowa (KWQC) – Karen Plambeck, a Sherrard woman who found guilty on 11 charges of animal cruelty; was sentenced to nine months in the Mercer County Jail and six years probation.

PlambeckShe was sentenced Thursday after her case was delayed because her attorney withdrew from the case, court records show.

Plambeck was sentenced on 11 charges of aggravated cruelty to animals, each a Class 4 felony:

Count 1: 24 months probation, 180 days in Mercer County Jail, mental health evaluation ordered.
- She will not be allowed to have animals during her probation period.
Count 2: probationary period 24 months; consecutive or consecutive on the first count and 60 consecutive days in jail on the first count.
Count 3: probationary period 24 months; also consecutively on the first and second counts) and 30 days imprisonment consecutively on the first and second counts
Counts 5-12: Conditional discharge for 18 months.

She was found not guilty of one count of aggravated cruelty to animals, Count 4.

Plambeck must pay $196,342.89 in restitution, court records show. She was immediately taken into custody.

But ultimately it falls to me, and what I can tell you is after listening to all the evidence at trial, all the witnesses, the testimony that was overwhelmingly flawless, watching the scene of horror created by Ms. Plambeck, and no one else.

That is why I made a statement, being convinced that Kurt and her son, it was her work and after her testimony she positioned herself as an expert in the breeding and breeding of these dogs, advised others, wrote blogs, and there was no other conclusion to to which this Judgment might have come if she had not known what she was doing. She testified herself. In fact, she was an expert in this field.

So, whether it is the intention that you talked about today that you believe does not exist, it does exist. That is why the court made such a decision, and from that day to this minute I have heard absolutely no repentance, but only excuses, excuses that she gave under oath, excuses made by some family members. Sorry, sorry, this won’t help. We have an actual situation that no one can escape from, and some dogs that can no longer run without being afraid of people. This is an unfortunate and sad state of affairs that cannot be corrected and should never be repeated.

The verdict was read on March 6 after four-day trial it started Feb. 27 in Mercer County.

When law enforcement seized about 200 dogs from her house Plambeck was arrested on August 12, 2022. Many were sick and gaunt from lack of food and water, court documents show.

When she was arrested, Plambeck was a licensed dog breeder and operated a business called Royal Starting Collies KC Ranch.

According to court records, the Mercer County Animal Control Department received a complaint from a woman who reported that some of her collies had been sold to a person in South Carolina and were to be transported by Plambeck.

The collies never made it to their intended owner, and the woman was worried about the welfare of her collies.

According to criminal information presented in the new case, Plambeck told a witness on or about Aug. 20, 2022, that if she “dropped the charges” against her, she would tell her the location of her missing dogs.

She was charged with felony murder on August 31, 2022. illegal communication with a witness. She has pleaded not guilty to this charge.