Convicted Fairfield Woman In Animal Cruelty Case Reports To Prison

FAIRFIELD, CT — Heidi Lueders, who was convicted of criminal property damage in a 2018 animal cruelty case, reported to the state's York Correctional Institution Wednesday to begin her 15-month prison sentence, according to prison records.

Lueders, 37, was sentenced in 2022 to five years in prison, suspended after 15 months served, for destroying the rental home she lived in, where five dead dogs were found locked in cages. She was found not guilty of animal cruelty charges.

The Prince Street home was so damaged by the rotting carcasses of the dogs and the squalid conditions that Lueders lived in, that a HAZMAT team was needed for the cleanup, according to prosecutors.

Lueders is the former president of Bully Breed Rescue Inc., a pit bull rescue group, that she ran out of the home.

Animal rights activists attended Lueders trial in Bridgeport court en masse, and before her sentencing, Lueders said that she suffered from a severe heroin addiction, which had "consumed" her life.

"Had I not used and become addicted to drugs, none of this would have ever happened," Lueders said in court at the time, adding that she is "sorry for the destruction of Kelly's home and everything that happened."

Kelly Roberts, the former owner of the Prince Street home, spent more than $150,000 having the home cleaned, and ended up losing it to foreclosure, according to prosecutors.

"I have lost trust in my fellow human beings," Roberts tearfully told the court during the trial. "I lost my home and I lost my life savings."

Lueders appealed her 2022 conviction on the property damage charge, but the conviction was upheld in May 2024. She remained free on bond until she reported to prison on Wednesday.

After she serves her sentence, Lueders will have five years of probation. Judge Peter McShane also required Lueders to undergo a mental health evaluation, submit to periodic urine drug testing, complete an animal cruelty prevention course, and pay restitution for the damage she caused to the rental home.