Couple faces new charges

SANDPOINT — A Bonner County couple with a history of taking poor care of their animals are facing new animal-neglect charges.

Bruce Clare Stratemeyer is charged two counts of animal neglect and one count of improper maintenance of multiple animals. Tina Lynn Stratemeyer is charged three counts of animal neglect and one count of improper maintenance of multiple animals.

The couple is scheduled to be arraigned on the misdemeanor charges on Dec. 7 in Bonner County Magistrate Court. They are free on their own recognizance while their cases are pending.

Officials from the Bonner County Sheriff’s Office and Idaho State Department of Agriculture seized three horses and two dogs, all of which were deemed malnourished. The animals were seized on Oct. 3 at the couple’s home in the Upper Pack River Valley, court documents indicate.

The couple relinquished ownership of the animals during a forfeiture hearing in magistrate court on Friday, court documents indicate.

Bruce Stratemeyer, 57, and Tina Stratemeyer, 45, were charged in 2007 with four counts of animal cruelty, but the cases were dismissed, according to the Idaho Supreme Court Data Repository.

They were charged with animal neglect in 2003, but the charges were reduced to disturbing the peace, the repository indicates.