Middleboro woman pleads guilty to 26 animal cruelty charges

MIDDLEBORO – A Middleboro woman has pleaded guilty in Wareham District Court to charges that she allegedly neglected 26 animals at her Middleboro home for months during 2024, Plymouth County District Attorney Timothy J. Cruz has announced.

Kimberly Savino, 44, pleaded guilty to 26 charges of Animal Cruelty spanning two separate, but related, criminal cases. 

In one of the cases, she was sentenced to a one-year suspended sentence in the Massachusetts Department of Corrections and placed on three years of probation. In the second case, Savino was sentenced to an additional three years of probation spanning from and after the first three-year stint on probation and is slated to end in 2032. 

The Commonwealth also requested Savino serve two and a half years of incarceration in the Department of Corrections. As part of her sentence, Savino was ordered not to own or possess any animals, to maintain mental health treatment and serve 100 hours of community service. 

The court also ordered Savino to cooperate with the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty of Animals, also known as MSPCA, who may conduct check-ins of Savino’s home in order to ensure the safety of two animals in the care of family members living on the property.

The charges followed a lengthy investigation by the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty of Animals-Angell, which eventually involved the Middleboro Police Department. 

In April 2024, MSPCA officers contacted Savino for a routine check on horses owned by the defendant. While inspecting the property, officers found Savino’s horses to be significantly underweight and were being fed with “very poor-quality hay,” according to their report. 

Officers had pre-existing concerns regarding Savino since she was previously charged with animal cruelty in Michigan in 2014 and was ordered to pay about $40,000 in fines. Over the next several months, after being advised by MSPCA officers on how to help improve the health of her horses, investigators found Savino continued to insufficiently feed and care for them. 

Between June 28 and October 16, 2024, Savino canceled and rescheduled at least nine appointments to have the horses weighed and assessed, according to the district attorney’s office.

In October, 2024, MSPCA officers in coordination with Middleboro Police, executed search warrants for the horses at Savino’s property and her home. Inside the home, Middleboro police and animal control reportedly found 17 dogs, and two cats left in “deplorable” conditions in the basement. 

All 26 animals — which includes a guinea pig also found on the property — were recovered from Savino’s property by law enforcement and were taken into the care of professionals at the MSPCA-Angell Animal Medical Center, the district attorney's office said.

Officers also located the remains of several deceased dogs distributed between a freezer and “plastic casket boxes” inside Savino’s garage.

As a result, on October 30, 2024, Middleboro Police sought and obtained criminal complaints charging Savino with neglecting 17 dogs, two cats, and a guinea pig in her care. Additionally, the MSPCA obtained a separate criminal complaint charging Savino with neglecting six horses.

This case was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Nicole Piacentini and was investigated by Middleboro Police and MSPCA law enforcement personnel.