Bench warrants will be issued for three people who failed to appear for their preliminary hearings last week before District Judge Allen P. Page III, including a former owner of a pet-grooming business who is accused of abandoning a cat, according to court records.
Brenda L. Doedderlein, 33, of 1129 Race St. has been charged by the local chapter of the Society of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals with allegedly abandoning a cat in her former store at 6 E. Third St. between late July and mid-September when the feline was caught and brought to the shelter.
Court records state that Doedderlein operated a business called Brenda's Pets and Grooming, which closed sometime in the summer.
A maintenance worker managed to trap the cat in the building on Sept. 15, humane officer Lawrence D. Woltz said in an affidavit. When the worker brought it to the SPCA shelter, the cat "was extremely underweight," Woltz said.
Doedderlein, who Woltz said had a documented history of neglecting animals over the years, has been charged with one misdemeanor count of cruelty to animals. The feline was examined by a local veterinarian, but no information was available on whether it recovered.
A warrant also will be issued for Denise M. Hill, 40, of 424 1/2 S. Market St., South Williamsport. She has been charged by city police with prostitution for allegedly offering sexual favors to an undercover officer for $20 in the 700 block of Spruce Street on May 11.
Dorrence W. Murphy, 51, of 1020 Memorial Ave., for whom a warrant also will be issued, has been charged by city police with possessing marijuana at Fourth and Market streets on Sept. 5.
