NEW TODAY: Herriman woman pleads guilty to neutering neighbor's dog
A Herriman woman who kidnapped and neutered her neighbor's dog resolved the case Monday with a plea deal that could eventually result in dropped charges.
Janet Lane, 46, pleaded guilty in 3rd District Court to criminal mischief, a class A misdemeanor. The plea will be held in abeyance and then dismissed in 18 months if Lane stays out of trouble and complies with the terms on the agreement.
Lane also must pay a $500 court fee, write a letter of apology to the dog's owners - Yvette and James Brimhall - and pay them $586 in restitution.
Lane also must obtain a mental health evaluation and comply with any recommended treatment.
On March 2, 2004, Lane took a Labrador retriever named Duke to a Salt Lake City veterinarian and paid to have it neutered, according to the charges.
She then left the dog at Salt Lake County Animal Services, where employees identified the animal from an implanted chip and contacted the owners, who live near Lane.
Lane - known in the animal community for sheltering homeless dogs and cats and using her own money to have them fixed - later admitted to investigators that she had Duke neutered and that she knew he was not a stray.
But she also told investigators that the Brimhalls were "not completely blameless" because they let Duke run loose.
Charged with criminal mischief in June 2004, Lane never appeared in court and a judge issued a $5,000 arrest warrant.
The warrant was not served until Lane was sent to jail last month for keeping five more dogs than the two allowed by Herriman City.
Third District Judge Stephen Henriod sentenced Lane to 180 days in jail upon learning she had done nothing about getting rid of the surplus dogs.
Henriod told Lane it would have been better to shoot the dogs than come to court in blatant violation of the law. The next day the judge apologized for the comment. He also ordered Lane released from jail because her friends had taken the extra dogs to a shelter.
Lane, however, spent one more night in jail because of the outstanding 2004 warrant.