A dog groomer is now facing criminal charges of animal cruelty and mutilation in the beating death of a 14-year-old poodle.
Baltimore County police have arrested and charged Celeste Rainone, 52, of Shewsbury, Pa., with beating and strangling Rajah, a poodle in her care, in February.
Baldwin resident Nancy Pine, Rajah?s owner, first contacted police after her dog?s trip to the grooming shop turned deadly.
“The dog has so many injuries that show trauma that it?s really alarming,” Pine said in a previous interview with The Examiner.
At noon on Feb. 16, Pine took her poodle to Grooming by Celeste at 5235 Hydes Road in Baltimore County in “completely healthy” condition, according to Pine.
But the dog was noticeably different when he returned home to Pine at 7 p.m. He was “cold, wet and minimally responsive,” according to a report by veterinarian Patti Brennan of Falls Road Animal Hospital. Rajah died soon afterward.
“The dog apparently bit the groomer …” Brennan wrote. “The owner believes that the groomer did something to intentionally harm the dog.”
According to an animal autopsy ? called a necropsy ? conducted on Rajah, the dog suffered from blunt trauma to the head, face, liver and other organs.
As part of their investigation, Baltimore County police interviewed Brennan, charging documents state.
“The fractured liver and the ribs indicated that impact was repeated,” police wrote. “The hemorrhage in the eyes she believed was from strangulation.”
Police also interviewed the shop?s neighbors, who said they heard a noise so loud they thought someone had just committed suicide. When a neighbor rushed to check on what happened, she observed Rainone acting drunk and putting a dog into a tub, police said.
Rainone began to say “strange things,” like she had known the neighbor in a previous life and that the neighbor had a “glow,” according to police.
When interviewed by police, Rainone grew “defensive and agitated,” according to charging documents. She refused to provide a written statement and said she was going to contact a lawyer because she was sick of being “harassed” by Pine, police said.
Rainone is scheduled to stand trial in Baltimore County District Court on June 18.
