PORT ANGELES – A woman from whom nearly three dozen cats were seized in a police raid last month left the courthouse Thursday before she could be served with criminal charges.
Julie Yu, 52, was at the courthouse for a hearing to discuss her petition to get her cats back.
But upon seeing a prosecutor in the courtroom and documents to be served her for a scheduled arraignment today, she fled the courthouse – without being served.
“They tricked me. The hearing was supposed to be about getting my cats back, and they wanted to give me papers to charge me,” she said.
“I want my cats back. They are well now – I don’t understand why I can’t have them back.
“They are my kids, my life, my family,” she said.
About 31 cats and kittens were removed from Yu’s single-wide mobile home at the Welcome Inn on U.S. Highway 101 in western Port Angeles on Oct. 10.
Before the cats were seized in the raid by police and animal control officers, Yu had placed an additional 35 or so cats in veterinary care.
Port Angeles police estimated that at one point, Yu had about 75 cats in her mobile home, which is less than 900 square feet.
