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Incident Date: Tuesday, Jun 7, 2011
County: Middlesex
Disposition: Alleged
Case Images: 1 files available
Alleged: Margo Malpher
Case Updates: 2 update(s) available
A disturbing discovery at a Tewksbury motel revealed more than a dozen animals in dangerous conditions.
Authorities said that one dog died, while three others are fighting for their lives. A woman is now charged with putting the animals in danger.
Police said a woman stopped at a motel in Tewksbury after leaving her home in Maine when she found out there might be an animal cruelty investigation launched against here there. She put all of her animals in the van, only to wind up in the same trouble in Massachusetts.
Animal cruelty charges were filed against a woman after guests at a motel in Tewksbury noticed something very wrong with the van parked outside her room.
"When the police opened it up I was like…there's 15 more dogs," said one man.
Police said 71-year-old Margot Nickerson let two cats and 15 dogs locked in her van at the height of midday heat. One of the dogs didn't make it.
Guests said they spotted Nickerson carrying the dead dog into her room and alerted hotel management.
"She was crying. She brought him inside. But it was too late," said one witness.
"The car there was like at least two inches, three inches, of this feces all like…trash…all in the van was like disgusting," said Shyke Jarteh, a motel guest.
The MSPCA, Animal Control and police responded to the incident. Nickerson was arrested on the scene.
"When the officer opened the vehicle, the dogs inside were in real bad shape. They all looked like they were suffering from heat exhaustion," said Chief Timothy Sheehan of the Tewksbury Police Department.
Guests said some of the dogs were foaming at the mouth from dehydration and were too weak to move.
"They couldn't even stand. The cops were like holding them up and they'd just fall back down," said James Douglas, motel guest.
Guests said the owner seemed oblivious to just how terrible the conditions were for her animals.
"Inside the van she has the bench seats and she had kennels in the bottom in the back and the middle…the kennels were stack on top of each other," said Douglas.
Nickerson is staying at the motel on Tuesday night after posting bail.
A 71-year-old woman accused of mistreating her dogs and cats at a Tewksbury motel was convicted of animal cruelty in Maine last fall, and was free pending an appeal.
Margot Nickerson was arrested on Tuesday when a motel guest called police to complain animals were left in her van. Police and animal control took 15 dogs and three cats from Nickerson. One dog died. Nickerson's attorney, Paul King, said his client has surrendered all the surviving dogs and cats to the MSPCA.
On Wednesday, Judge Michael Brooks set Nickerson's bail at $1,000 cash or $10,000 surety. If she posts bail she is not to own any small animals.
Bail was set after prosecutors said Nickerson had a prior conviction. The Bangor Daily News reported last December that Nickerson was sentenced to five years in jail with all but 10 days suspended, and ordered to pay $13,000 in restitution to the state of Maine. She appealed that decision, and was free.
The state seized 20 dogs and a cat from her home in 2006. Nickerson filed a $100 million lawsuit against the governor of Maine and a number of other state and local officials, alleging the state stole her dogs. The Maine Supreme Judicial Court determined in February 2008 that the state had the right to seize the animals.
Nickerson also has used the name Margot Kathleen Nickerson-Malpher, according to the Bangor Daily News. She gave police a South Dakota address, but also lists a family camp in Topsfield, Me.
A South Dakota woman has pleaded not guilty to leaving two cats and more than a dozen dogs in a van outside a motel for nearly six hours on a day when temperatures reached the high 80s.
Margot Nickerson-Malpher, of Sioux Falls, S.D., was ordered held Wednesday on $1,000 cash bail by a Lowell District Court judge on 18 counts of animal cruelty. The judge also ordered the 71-year-old not to possess any animals.
Tewksbury police said they found the animals in the hot van with windows cracked open. Police say some had trouble walking and others had to be hosed down.
Police said at least one dog died.
Nickerson-Malpher told police she was driving from Maine back to South Dakota.
A pre-trial conference is scheduled Aug. 9.
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