Two Wetumpka women were found guilty Tuesday in Wetumpka Municipal Court of trespassing and other charges related to their feeding of feral cats on Elmore County property.
Cliff Williams / The Herald Beverly Roberts and Mary Alston were convicted of trespassing after feeding and trapping cats on property belonging to Elmore County.
Wetumpka City Judge Jeff Courtney sentenced Beverly Roberts, 85, and Mary Alston, 61, to 10 days in jail suspended, two years unsupervised probation and $100 in fines plus court costs.
Following sentencing, Roberts took an opportunity to comment to the court.
“I’m not the first person in Wetumpka to feed cats,” Roberts said. “People were doing it long before me, probably before Wetumpka was here. I just got caught.”
Courtney said the charges were not for feeding cats.
“You weren’t convicted for feeding cats,” Courtney told Roberts.
Roberts quickly responded.
“I know, because that’s not illegal,” Roberts said.
Alston was convicted of criminal trespassing and interfering with governmental operations. Roberts was convicted of criminal trespassing and disorderly conduct. All of the charges are misdemeanors. The trespassing charges related to an arrest made about 200 yards up the hill of Ready Street from the municipal courtroom.
The five and half hour trial saw witnesses including Wetumpka Mayor Jerry Willis, Elmore County Chief Operations Officer Richie Beyer, Wetumpka animal control officer Terrance Sutton, the arresting officers and Alley Cat Allies Programs Director Alice Burton testify.
All of the charges come from a June 25 incident but with trespass warnings to Roberts prior to that.
Beyer testified the county owned the parking lot across from the Elmore County Courthouse near the intersection of Hill and Ready streets. The county also owns the property going up the hill to U.S. Highway 231.
Law enforcement visited Roberts at her home twice before — in March 2022 and August 2021. Testimony from officers said she was told she was trespassed from the property and couldn’t return to feed or trap cats on the courthouse property.
Willis testified he traveled by the property on the way to downtown Saturday, June 25 and that he noticed a vehicle. Willis said he called Wetumpka assistant police chief Ed Reeves. Officers found Alston on the property and instructed her to leave and that she was also trespassed from the property.
Between 30 minutes and an hour later officers returned to the property to find Alston never left and Roberts joined her. They were seen by officers removing traps. Officers then placed Alston and Roberts under arrest. Roberts’ disorderly conduct charge came from creating a scene that was seen by automobiles passing by. Alston’s obstructing charge came from her approaching Roberts during her arrest.
Willis testified he had previous conversations with Roberts concerning dogs in the city, but said he did not order the arrest of the ladies.
Willis acknowledged a feral cat issue and that the city did not have an active program to control the cats. Willis said the city has been trying to deal with the issue for the last couple of years. When Willis was asked about a trap, neuter and return (TNR) program, he said he didn’t know what TNR was.
The director of Alley Cat Allies, Burton, testified the best way to control a feral population was with TNR. She said the cats would be trapped, fixed and returned to where they were trapped. Burton’s studies and her experience show it would control the issue.
Roberts said while awaiting Courtney’s verdict she had more than 20 cats from the location fixed.
Alston and Roberts did not testify.
Attorneys for Alston and Roberts said appeals to circuit court for the convictions are planned.
