An Allegheny County judge today sent the owner of the closed Tiger Ranch to jail today after authorities found evidence cats were still being fed there.

Judge Jill Rangos revoked the bond for Linda Bruno, who has changed her name to Lin Marie, during a second hearing for the woman today. Ms. Bruno was to have been sentenced this morning after pleading guilty in July to 14 counts that include animal cruelty and tampering with public records. But that was postponed after the judge learned Ms. Bruno had not completed a psychiatric evaluation and that there was evidence cats were still being cared for at the property in Frazer where Ms. Bruno had once housed hundreds of cats. Prosecutors said she had also lived in a house with her mother, who has pets, a violation of the court order barring her from contact with animals.

The judge sent a detective from the sheriff's office to the property today, and he reported during the second hearing that he found five of Ms. Bruno's supporters, one of them burning bags of cat food and shooing away cats. A man told the detective he had been feeding cats occasionally because cats kept returning to the property. Several of the supporters had been at this morning's hearing where Judge Rangos ordered the sheriff's office to visit the property.

The detective said he saw four or five cats there this afternoon.

The judge then ordered Ms. Bruno to jail but said she could apply for alternative housing pending sentencing on Dec. 4.

Ms. Bruno's attorney said she had been back to the property only once, to pick up mail.

"I can't tell you how disappointed I am that she was living at her mother's house and people photographed [evidence of violations of bond conditions] in the trash," Judge Rangos said before she ordered the sentencing continued.

Ms. Bruno, who said today that she has lived for the past three or four days at the Days Inn in Harmar, admitted she has not obtained a permanent residence at which she can be served court papers. The residency requirement also is a condition of her bond.

She faces up to two years in prison for each count in her guilty plea and fines of $12,000 when she is sentenced. She initially faced about 600 counts before the plea was entered.

Two state humane officers gave about an hour's worth of testimony today before the judge halted the hearing, which the judge had estimated would take about 20 minutes to complete.

"I didn't expect a trial length hearing today," the judge said, explaining she could not proceed further today without having to postpone several other brief hearings that were scheduled.

Lawyers and their clients were mixed among the approximately 40 spectators who jammed the courtroom and jury box.

Tiger Ranch was raided 16 months ago by local, county, and state law enforcement officials who ordered the shelter closed.

Officials seized nearly 400 cats during a March 13, 2008, raid on the Tiger Ranch cat sanctuary. Most were shipped to a temporary shelter in Clarion County, although 126 of the animals were euthanized or died on their own that night and in the days following the raid.

The surviving cats have been in the care of the Pennsylvania Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, which said it spent about $500,000 on the Tiger Ranch rescue.

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