Friday, September 15, 2000

Woman left in stench called eccentric

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Attorney says 69-year-old's son isn't to blame for what happened

By Cindy Schroeder
The Cincinnati Enquirer

        FORT THOMAS — Five days after Bonnie Sarakatsannis was found lying on a sheet in her foul-smelling garage, her hip broken and her backside covered with bedsores, authorities have more questions than answers:

        • Exactly how long had the stinking, cat-filled house on Scenic View Drive been occupied?

Animal Control Officers Anthony and Colleen Von-Mason set out traps Thursday to snare dozens of cats roaming the neighborhood around Bonnie Sarakatsannis' house. (Patrick Reddy photo) | ZOOM |

        • When and how did Mrs. Sarakatsannis break her hip?

        • Did Phillip T. Sarakatsannis — now facing a felony charge of abusing his mother — knowingly neglect or abuse the 69-year-old?

        For at least the past three weeks, police think Mrs. Sarakatsannis was in her garage while dozens of cats roamed the feces- and urine-stained house.

        Authorities who donned protective gear and entered the house Wednesday described it as having holes in the ceilings and walls; furniture that had been used as scratching posts by its nearly 70 feline occupants; and floors marked by dry cat food, bowls of water and urine and feces.

        “It was like something out of an Alfred Hitchcock movie,” said Fort Thomas Police Sgt. Wayne Turner, adding that words couldn't describe “the phenomenal stench” and unsanitary conditions inside the home.

        “It's bad enough when you think of those animals, but to have someone's mother lying on the garage floor with a broken hip ...”

        Neighbors had complained for years about the stench, but no one ever appeared to be home when city inspectors checked the property.

        In recent years, inspectors had cited the property owners for exterior violations — such things as uncut grass and a rotting garage door — and each was corrected, they said.

        “Until the criminal case evolved, we didn't have probable cause to go inside the house,” Sgt. Turner said.

        Late Wednesday, the city posted a notice of condemnation on the Scenic View Drive house as animal-control officers continued to remove some of the dozens of cats from the property. As the property owner, Mrs. Sarakatsannis has 20 days to appeal the notice. If she doesn't appeal, she has 30 days to correct the violations or to offer a plan for doing so.

        Ultimately, the house — which had no electricity, gas or running water — could be razed if no appeal is filed, no timely action is taken or no plan is presented to correct the violations, said Ron Dill, director of building services for the city of Fort Thomas.

        Police said Thursday their investigation is continuing, and no decision has been made on whether additional charges will be filed.

        Jack Porter, assistant Campbell County commonwealth attorney, said authorities should learn more when police are able to interview Mrs. Sarakatsannis, who was taken Sunday to St. Elizabeth Medical Center South in Edgewood.

        Hospital officials would not confirm Mrs. Sarakatsannis was a patient.

        Her son, 32, was released Wednesday afternoon from the Campbell County Jail after posting 10 percent of his $25,000 bail. The Southgate man is charged with second-degree criminal abuse, a felony that carries a penalty of one to five years in prison upon conviction.

        His attorney, Harry Hellings, denied his client was guilty of criminal abuse.

        “It's not as they painted it,” Mr. Hellings said. “There's absolutely no abuse at all.”

        Mr. Hellings said Mr. Sarakat sannis “is not his mother's custodian,” but periodically checked on her and did chores around her Scenic View Drive home.

        “She is physically sound, or was,” Mr. Hellings said. “She drives an automobile and gets around. She is just eccentric.”

        He added that Mrs. Sarakatsannis, who was taken to the hospital after her son called a private ambulance, was “doing well” Thursday.

        “She's old,” Mr. Hellings said. “She's got a broken hip. But we don't anticipate any long-term problems.”

        Police were called by social services officials who were notified of Mrs. Sarakatsannis' condition by the hospital.

        Investigators obtained a search warrant and donned protective gear such as masks, a breathing apparatus and plastic suits before entering the home Wednesday.

        By Thursday, animal control officers said they had removed 43 live and dead cats from the premises and the surrounding neighborhood. They estimated another 30 or so cats were still inside.

        Fourteen cats trapped Wednesday and Thursday by authorities suffered from infectious diseases or otherwise were in such bad shape that they had to be euthanized, said Lisa Jackson, director of the Campbell County Animal Shelter.

        “There were dead cats — some in bags and some not — just scattered inside the house and out,” said Colleen Von-Mason, assistant to Animal Control Officer Anthony Von-Mason. “Never in my life had I seen anything like this.”
       

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