(excerpts from the Boston Herald, May 2003)
On April 28, Boston’s Inspection Services Department raided Erickson’s Beacon Hill apartment and reportedly found 60 frozen cats, 52 malnourished and diseased felines and one abused Great Dane. On May 7, officials raided her Watertown apartment to find a similar situation. She was charged with 84 counts of animal cruelty. She was forbidden from returning to her apartment and for keeping cats anywhere in Boston.
Animal Cruelty Convictions of Cat Lady Upheld
(excerpts from the Boston Herald, 2009)
The town’s attorney says the state Appeals Court decision to uphold animal cruelty convictions of the so-called “cat lady” may make it easier for Plymouth prosecutors to seize a Great Dane that is in her care. Erickson eventually moved to Plymouth after her 2003 convictions of six counts of animal cruelty. In March 2009, Plymouth police charged her with nine counts of animal cruelty after they seized 11 cats and a Great Dane from her Lothrop Street apartment.
‘Cat Lady’ Heidi Erickson sentenced to 90 days in jail
(excerpts from Patriot Ledger, January 2011)
The 50-year-old former Lothrop Street resident faced up to 20 years in prison after her conviction in December on eight counts of animal cruelty. Police filed charges after taking 11 Persian cats from her house in the spring of 2009. Erickson was sentenced to 2 1/2 years of incarceration, but the sentence was suspended after Erickson serves 90 days; she was also placed on probation for five years and specifically ordered to take anger management classes and have no contact whatsoever with animals while on probation. Erickson has been living in Kentucky since last summer, but currently faces eviction proceedings there.
Bourbon County, Ky., sheriff’s deputies searched her home after last month’s conviction and found five cats and two horses living in conditions similar to those found by police at her Plymouth home, a prosecutor said.
Commonwealth of Massachusetts Appeals Court Affirms Cat Cruelty Convictions (January 2016) The court rejected Erickson’s six claims and upheld the eight counts of animal cruelty convictions from a December 2010 jury trial.
