A woman who was barred from owning pets as part of a plea deal that convicted her of mistreating the animals at a dingy and sometimes deadly pet adoption center in Portland has been sentenced to 2 years in jail for flouting the terms of her probation.
Former Woofin Palooza owner Samantha Miller promised to stay away from pets for 15 years as part of her 2023 deal with prosecutors, who in turn dismissed most of the 270-count indictment filed against her and agreed to let her stay out of jail.
But a parole officer who made a surprise visit to her home in Tillamook County in March found seven dogs locked in a trailer and a litter box, cat toys, and cat food in her home, according to court records and the prosecutor in the case.
“Ms. Miller has never taken full responsibility for the harm that she inflicted on animals and humans,” said Jacob Kamins, the state’s special prosecutor for animal abuse crimes, during a probation hearing last week in Multnomah County Circuit Court.
Miller and her business partner, Torrance Head, first came to the attention of state authorities five years ago, when the state Department of Justice shut down their Scappoose dog rescue and barred them from opening any further nonprofits as part of a 2019 settlement.
Miller and Head promptly set up shop as a for-profit business along Northeast 82nd Avenue, promising to save dogs taken from high-kill California shelters, only to be raided in 2020 by animal control officers who seized 122 cats and dogs living in dirty kennels.
Head pleaded guilty in January 2023 to state and federal charges for doctoring phony certificates for rabies vaccinations and is expected to spend six months in a federal halfway house.
Miller, now 54, initially escaped jail time when she cut the deal after pleading guilty to beating a dog and neglecting other charges in her care in May 2023.
Last August, she was back before Circuit Judge Amy Baggio after her parole officer accused Miller of changing her address without permission and of general untruthfulness. Baggio let her off then with a warning.
But April 2, Baggio didn’t buy Miller’s story that dogs were only temporarily dropped off and the cats were coming in through holes in her house.
“What I see in the record before me is a consistent pattern of you not taking this seriously and thumbing your nose at the restrictions that the court has put on you,” Baggio said.
Several people spoke at the hearing, including Shannon Troy, who said she ended up spending thousands in veterinary bills on a pet she adopted from Woofin Palooza that could have been avoided with a simple X-ray.
Defense attorney David B. Peters said the dogs and cats found at Miller’s coastal home were not mistreated and that Miller had been engaging with counseling sessions.
Miller told the judge she’d applied for more than 60 jobs but hadn’t found any takers.
“I am no longer a person anymore. I am a result of whatever is on that piece of paper,” she said, gesturing at a court form.
Baggio had little time for Miller’s mournful tale.
“I think you’re a master manipulator,” the judge said. “It’s lies and lies and lies.”
She revoked Miller’s probation on several counts and sentenced her to two years in the county jail. Miller still faces a federal trial tied to conditions at Woofin Palooza.
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