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Crime & Safety

Judge Offers Accused Puppy Mill Operator Nine Months

If Gloria Marriott accepts a plea agreement, she could serve nine months for five counts of animal cruelty

Will accused puppy mill operator Gloria Marriott accept a plea agreement to serve nine months for animal cruelty? That was the offer tendered today by Judge Kevin McMahon when Marriott appeared in New London Superior Court G.A. 10 for a bond reduction hearing.

Public Defender Jennifer Baldwin Nowak, who is representing Marriott, says her client wants some time to think about it. She'll be doing her thinking in York Correctional facility, however, because although McMahon agreed to reduce Marriott's bond from $250,000 to $49,000, she will remain incarcerated for violating probation in Massachusetts.  

Marriott, who was listed on the docket as Linda Snow A.K.A. Gloria Marriott, may be a woman with many identities but when it comes to breaking the law, she’s consistent. Charged with five counts of animal cruelty, Marriott is accused of running a puppy mill out of her rental home at 59 Oslo Street in Mystic. She has a previous conviction for running a puppy mill in Massachusetts.

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Groton Police may not have known who Marriott was when they first entered her house, but there wasn’t much mystery about what she was doing. Confronted by an overpowering smell of feces and urine, police investigated to discover five dogs with matted fur locked in crates and rooms reeking of waste. None of the dogs had any food or water.  According to Groton Police, at least 30 people bought puppies from Marriott within the past year.

Moving to Connecticut to resume her puppy mill operation violated the terms of Marriott’s probation in Massachusetts, which perhaps explains why she gave false names to police when they initially arrested her, first identifying herself as Mary Howard, then as Linda Snow. It wasn’t until New London Superior Court Judge Arthur C. Hadden asked her to give her real name that the 62-year-old identified herself as Gloria Marriott.

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Confusion over her true identity resulted in Marriott's bail being bumped from $50,000 to $250,000 and in an additional charge of criminal impersonation. Now that the court has established her identity as Gloria Marriott, Nowak asked Judge McMahon to reduce the bond.  “The bond was raised as the court was unaware of the defendant’s true identity,” Nowak told the court. “That identity has now been ascertained.”

Judge McMahon agreed and lowered the bond from $250,000 to $49,000, which will allow Marriott more freedom of movement inside York Correctional. Marriott’s next court appearance is scheduled for May 20, at which point Nowak says she expects Marriott to say whether she plans to accept the plea agreement. 

The five dogs rescued from Marriott’s home, meanwhile, are free at last. Animal Control Officer Donna Durso reports that the female Schnauzer, female Cocker Spaniel, male Maltese, male Shih Tzu, and Shih Tzu-Cocker Spaniel puppy have all been placed in good homes.

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