Andrea Rosebrock 
A Baltimore dog groomer, Celeste A. Rainone, 53, owner of Grooming By Celeste, got a 90 day jail term and 3 yr suspended jail sentence in the death of Nancy Pine’s poodle’s death. She will also be on 18 month of supervised probation after her release.
In February, Pine had taken Rajah to be groomed and when she didn’t hear back from the groomer 5 hours later, more than twice as long as it normally would take for Rajah’s grooming sessions, she began to get worried and called the groomer. Two hours later Rainone’s fiance brought Rajah and deposited him on Pine’s floor.
“He couldn’t even hold his head up. He was barely conscious,” Pine said.
Ten hours later Rajah was dead. A necropsy revealed that he had suffered acute liver injuries, broken ribs, and internal bleeding and might have been strangled.
“There must be something wrong in your life or in your head or with you that someone who for 53 years has loved animals” would cause a pet’s death, Baltimore County District Judge Barbara R. Jung told the defendant.
The judge also ordered the woman to surrender her grooming license and to pay $2,371 in restitution to cover Pine’s veterinary bills and the cost of the necropsy. “It can never, ever, ever compensate her for the loss of Rajah,” Jung added.
Rainone is scheduled to appear in court again next week on charges stemming from injuries to another dog. She is accused of injuring a 4-year-old Maltese named Chesney in June 2006. Darlene Andrzejewski, the pet’s owner, told police that Chesney returned from the groomer limping and with urine, feces and blood in his fur, court records show.
The groomer told Andrzejewski that the Maltese had bitten her and “needed to be put down,” according to the charging documents.
“I had no intention to hurt Rajah,” she said, her voice barely audible through her sobs. “I’ve never had anything like that happen. I’m sorry that I snapped. I can’t control it. It happens when I’m sleeping.”
The comments were an apparent reference to the diagnosis of a psychiatrist who evaluated Rainone at the judge’s request. Reading from the evaluation in court, defense attorney James Farmer said that his client had surgery in 2004 for a cerebral hemorrhage, has suffered occasional seizures since then and was also diagnosed with a panic disorder.
Source – Baltimore Sun
As someone with over 20 companion animals, I must say this story really broke my heart. As a reasonable and responsible woman, I ask myself HOW would I be able to keep my temper under control in such a situation? I wouldn’t. I would be in jail, just like this woman…Because I would have beaten her within an inch of her life. I can only imagine the terror and pain these poor animals experienced. I cannot fathom the anger and hurt that their owners are going through. My heart and prayers go out to them. This is absolutely heartbreaking and unforgiveable. I know what it’s like to groom animals…I groom all of my own pets and sometimes they do not want to cooperate. But, you have to have patience and understanding. Esp. if this is YOUR chosen profession. I don’t believe anyone forced this woman to groom animals for a living. While I think it is always important to refrain from violent comments, I promise that if this woman hurt or killed any of my pets, she would be in a body cast. And, she would deserve it! My only hope is that the powers that be punish her severely and that the ladies waiting for her in the local jail are animal lovers! Hope they show you a a good time you hateful and violent monster!
P.S. 90 days is not long enough. Those animals will be dead forever. There is never an excuse for violence towards an animal, period.
Tiffany, I couldn’t agree with you more. It was hard for me to hold my temper as I wrote this story. If someone has problems and knows they have problems then they should stay away from anything that could trigger their problems.
There is no excuse for hurting a pet, especially when you are in a profession that is supposed to care for them in one way or another.
And God help anyone who ever harms one of mine. It would not be pleasant. I too groom my dogs because I really don’t trust anyone else with them.
I had one bad experience with a groomer and since then have never let anyone else touch my babies. They trust me and know I would never hurt them. No they don’t like grooming but they know they have to deal with it and just get it over with.
I know that there are some excellent groomers out there but personally after some of the horror stories I hear, I’d prefer to err on the side of caution.
And, no, 90 days does not even come close to being enough!!
Deanna