Man pleads guilty in animal hoarding case

A man accused of hoarding more than 100 cats at his Two Harbors home and at his Duluth Township property pleaded guilty on Friday to one count of animal neglect and several counts of animal maltreatment.

Edward Todd Stoehr, 70, who has a home in Two Harbors and property at 1848 Korkki Road, agreed to a sentence of 180 days in jail, which was stayed for two years of supervised probation as part of the plea deal, according to Assistant St. Louis County Attorney Kristen Swanson, who prosecuted the case. He was also ordered to pay a $1,500 fine, $1,250 of which will be stayed during his probation.

Felony charges of animal cruelty were reduced to a misdemeanor as part of the plea deal. Stoehr’s case had been set to go to trial last January before it was postponed.

Stoehr will be allowed to keep the one dog he owns, provided he has the dog evaluated by a veterinarian and it is found to be in good health.

Stoehr, the former director of the Lake Superior Humane Society, will be allowed to have up to two other animals if after six months of probation a psychologist approves him to be of a fit mental state of mind, Swanson said.

The criminal complaint alleges that police executing a search warrant on Stoehr’s Duluth Township property last March found 20 cats in a pole building with no lights on and no windows, ventilation or fresh food or water. Portable kennels were in poor condition and litter boxes were overflowing.

An officer on the scene, Duluth Township Police Chief Shawn Padden, said that in his 23 years of police work, including time breaking down meth labs, the smell was “the worst I’ve ever been in.”

A veterinarian determined that the cats’ basic needs were not being met and could have caused premature death.

Two of the cats had to be euthanized.

Officers also found 39 dead cats in bags and containers outside the pole building. The animal recovery team then went to Stoehr’s Two Harbors residence and removed 34 live cats. A veterinarian conducted necropsies on three cats and found that two of them died from emaciation from not eating for an extended period of time. Other live cats were found that suffered from various diseases allegedly because of improper treatment by Stoehr.

A phone number listed for Stoehr was disconnected, and he could not be reached for comment.

He will be formally sentenced on March 17.