Paso Robles apartment manager enters plea after dozens of dead cats were found in unit
The Paso Robles apartment manager charged with multiple felony charges of animal cruelty after dozens dead cats were found inside one of her units pleaded not guilty to the crimes Tuesday, as more details about the cats were revealed in court documents.
The San Luis Obispo District Attorney’s Office filed seven animal cruelty charges against 62-year-old Laurie Bryant on Feb. 10. Bryant managed Presidio Apartments in Paso Robles.
Under the penal code, animal cruelty includes intentional abuse, depriving animals of necessary sustenance, drink or shelter and subjecting animals to needless suffering.
The charges come about five months after SLO County Animal Services discovered the dead cats in “extremely unsanitary conditions” in Unit 4 of the Presidio Apartments, located at 1040 Chestnut St. in Paso Robles, in August.
At the time the apartment was discovered, Animal Services said 40 dead cats and six live cats were recovered from inside the apartment. The charges filed by the District Attorney’s Office pertain to at least 30 of those cats.
According to an amended complaint filed Tuesday, the alleged animal cruelty took place between Oct. 31, 2023, and Aug. 16.
Two gray domestic short-hair cats, one male and one female, were both victims of animal cruelty, the amended complaint said. In addition, one deceased cat was found in the bathroom, four deceased cats were found in the bedroom, five were found in the living room, six were found in the kitchen and 14 were found in the master bedroom, the document said.
San Luis Obispo Superior Court Judge Rita Federman ruled Bryant could keep the four cats Animal Services has allowed her to retain and ordered she could not take possession of any more.
The next court hearing was scheduled for April 15.
Photos show apartment filled with feces
A woman who was on the private hazmat team hired to clean up the second-floor apartment shared disturbing photos of the interior, showing rooms filled with piles of cat feces and assorted garbage, according to a story posted by the Paso Robles Daily News.
According to the San Luis Obispo County Animal Services receipt posted on the apartment door, 40 dead cats and six live cats were found inside the apartment on Aug. 16. The apartment was filled with cat feces and garbage, photos showed.
In the bathroom, cat feces filled the bathtub up to the brim. In other rooms, the feces mixed with empty cans and crushed bottles, dirty linens and other trash that appeared to have compacted in layers.
After the discovery, the city red-tagged the apartment.
Bryant was listed as the as the owner of “40 deceased cat remains” and “six live cats” on a seized item receipt posted at the apartment. She told the Daily News the apartment had been vacant since October 2023.
Bryant was a co-founder of the SLO County News Facebook page and has stepped down from her work with the organization. Neighbors confirmed to The Tribune in October that the apartment had been vacant for about a year and named Bryant as the last tenant they knew of.
They also said they saw stray cats coming and going from the unoccupied apartment through a broken window screen.
