By BEA LEWIS

Northern Lakes Region Bureau

LACONIA — Citing the squalid living conditions found inside a Center Harbor man’s home, a judge has convicted him of two counts of endangering the welfare of a child and three counts of animal cruelty.

Vincent Schonarth, 52, formerly of Rte. 3, Center Harbor will be sentenced on the five Class B misdemeanor counts in accordance with the court’s calendar, wrote Special Justice Lucinda Sadler in a five-page ruling returned in Laconia District Court on Friday.

Police charged that Schonarth had allowed his two minor stepchildren — a boy, 13 and a girl, 11 — to live in a home littered with animal waste.

"It was the duty of the defendant to ensure that the children had a safe and habitable environment in which to live. It is not the obligation of the children to request that they be allowed to stay in an environment not inundated with feces and urine," the judge wrote in her ruling.

"The videotape documents the deplorable condition of each of the rooms of the house. The videotape also documented how the cats were roaming freely throughout the various areas of the house and (that) little regard was paid to when they would urinate or defecate outside the area of the litter boxes," Sadler wrote.

"The videotape and photographs paint a revealing picture of the state of the environment for these animals. The Court finds the conditions of the home were filthy and did not provide a proper environment for the cats in question," the judge found.

While Schonarth presented evidence and passionately argued that he would spare no expense or never fail to provide proper medical care for his animals, Judge Sadler found otherwise.

Citing testimony by Dr. Christopher Jaques of Interlakes Animal Hospital in Meredith, Sadler said, the veterinarian told the court that he hadn’t seen any of the Schonarths’ cats in a number of months.

"Testimony was also presented that the medical conditions the animals suffered from were rectified to the extent medically possible after being taken from the defendant’s property. It is logical that if the cats had been adequately medically attended to by the defendant, their presenting conditions would have been avoiding," the court found.

Recalling Schonarth’s efforts to impeach the testimony of New Hampshire Humane Society officials by showing a cat they testified was 10 years old was only two, the judge found that while there may have been some confusion regarding the animal’s age, there was no confusion on its condition or habitat.

"The Court finds that the Humane Society tried to identify the age of the cat based on the condition of the teeth. Due to the condition of the teeth, the cat presented as much older than it actually was. This is further evidence that the cat was not properly cared for."

Because of conflicting testimony concerning what cats may or may not have received their rabies shots, the judge ruled that she could not find Schonarth guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Schonarth was found innocent of violating the state law requiring rabies vaccinations for animals.

On the endangering the welfare of a child charges, the court found that Schonarth breached a duty of care in regard to his two youngest stepchildren, who both testified in closed-door sessions during the three-day trial.

"The State presented numerous witnesses who testified to the condition of the house in which the children were made to sleep," the judge found.

Despite Schonarth’s consistent argument that the copy of the videotape given to him by the state as part of the discovery process differed from the one the prosecution presented to the court, Judge Sadler found after reviewing them both, "there was no basis to find that the defendant’s tapes were altered or were not the same as the ones submitted by the State. The Court finds the tapes compelling evidence on the issues presented in these cases."

"The Court has previously found that the condition of the home on the defendant’s property unfit for the maintenance of the animals which were the subject of the cruelty complaints. That finding is emphatically restated in regard to the conditions in which these children were allowed to live. The videotape clearly demonstrates that the cleanest and most habitable places on the property were those in which the defendant or his wife worked. The living quarters in the homes were deplorable and not fit for the children to visit no less be allowed to eat, sleep and find entertainment," the judge wrote.

The court also found that Schonarth’s assertion that the children chose to sleep and eat in those conditions was without merit. It was the defendant’s duty to ensure that the children had a safe and habitable environment in which to live, Sadler stressed.

Center Harbor Chief of Police Andy Faller prosecuted the case.

Schonarth is currently being held at the Carroll County Jail in Ossipee in lieu of $25,000 cash or surety bail. He has been charged with 17 counts of theft by deception and is schedule to stand trial on the felony charges the first week of March. It is alleged that he defrauded an 84-year-old Sandwich man out of more than $300,000.