Cedar Rapids police officer found guilty in dogs' release

A Cedar Rapids police officer has been found guilty of criminal trespass in the incident in which dogs were released from a flood-damaged home.

Magistrate Marty Hagge filed his ruling late Monday finding Robyn Obadal guilty of the simple misdemeanor. Obadal, 37, was fined $100.

Police Chief Greg Graham said after the ruling Obadal remains suspended without pay. He said he hopes an internal investigation will be complete within the next week.

“It's not my intention to drag this out any further,” Graham said. “We were waiting for the outcome of the trial, and obviously we have an outcome, so we'll finish the internal investigation and take whatever action is deemed appropriate.”

In a three-hour hearing last week,a neighbor testified she lent Obadal a screwdriver the morning of July 23. Obadal apparently used the tool to force open a homemade kennel at the rear of 1201 10th St. NW, releasing a German shepherd and pit bull owned by Chad Ramey.

The dogs were reported missing that afternoon. They were found nearby on Ellis Boulevard NW the following afternoon.

Ramey testified he was unable to keep the dogs at the house he rented as he repaired flood damage to the 10th Street home, where he's since moved.

Other neighbors testified they were concerned about the dogs, penned in a 50-square-foot enclosure for more than 18 months. Although Ramey testified he visited the dogs and fed them daily, the neighbors said they frequently escaped the kennel and often disturbed them with their barking.

Obadal, who has been on unpaid leave since the incident, told investigators she'd found the dogs running loose and turned them over to an unidentified man, never found, who said he knew their owner.

Hagge noted the neighbors' concerns over the dogs, writing that "by most accounts the condition of the kennel outside the porch area was less than ideal," and that the conditions were reported at least once to city Animal Control.

Obadal had stopped at the property the previous week and photographed the dogs' living conditions, according to Hagge's findings. She forwarded the photos to Animal Control, which didn't take action.

When Obadal drove past Ramey's property July 23 and saw the dogs were still there, "she decided to remove the dogs on her own," Hagge wrote.

Hagge ruled Obadal "was not acting within the scope of her duties" when she entered the property, failing to advise dispatch of her location.

"If she were truly acting in what she perceived to be the best interests of the dogs, then it is nonsensical for her not to have taken the dogs to Animal Control," Hagge wrote. "Obadal's explanation for her actions is entirely inconsistent."

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