IN THE NEWS

Judge won’t dismiss doggie station charge

JILLIAN DUCHNOWSKI - jduchnowski@nwherald.com
July 1, 2009

WOODSTOCK – The case of the moved trash can full of pet waste could go to trial after a McHenry County judge declined to dismiss a theft charge against an Algonquin woman Thursday. Carrie Fosdale, 46, has said she took the doggie waste station in October in protest after her homeowners association installed it near her town house.
She was charged with theft under $300, a misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail and a $2,500 fine.

Her attorney, George Kililis, argued that Fosdale was a partial owner of the doggie station and that the matter was a dispute over where it should have been placed.

“The association is accusing the defendant of taking property that, by its own statements, belonged equally to all members of the association,” Kililis wrote in his motion.

He said Old Oak Terrace Homeowners Association, not a criminal court, should handle the dispute through its own rules, which allow for a hearing after a property owner has received written notice of a potential problem.

But prosecutors maintained that Fosdale’s actions were criminal and that ownership of the doggie station should be determined at trial.

“Even if the defendant did have ownership rights in the receptacle, she had no right to exert unauthorized control of the property to the detriment of the other owners in common,” Assistant State’s Attorney Jessica Carrier wrote in response to the motion.

The case next is due in court July 9 for a pre-trial status hearing.