New York Knicks center Kelvin Cato wants custody of his 6-year-old son, who was found living in a urine-soaked apartment with more than 30 cats last year.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/O/OR_KELVIN_CATO_SON_OROL-?SITE=NYNYP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

NBA player seeks custody of Oregon son

BEAVERTON, Ore. (AP) -- New York Knicks center Kelvin Cato wants custody of his 6-year-old son, who was found living in a urine-soaked apartment with more than 30 cats last year.

Cato's lawyers in Oregon said their client learned of the child's plight only after they told him about news accounts of the criminal case against the boy's mother, Jennifer Gaines.

Gaines, 36, was convicted in Washington County Circuit Court of criminal mistreatment of her son and of animal neglect. She was sentenced this week to five years of probation and 100 hours of community service.

"We had no knowledge of the living conditions whatsoever," Cato's mother, Carolyn Cato of Atlanta, told The Oregonian newspaper.

The Beaverton police officer who investigated the apartment on a tip last June wrote in his report that the smell of cat urine burned his eyes and throat.

"It was unsafe for the children to spend another minute inside of the residence," the officer wrote. "The odor was so overwhelming that I almost vomited."

Court records say the boy's mattress was stained with cat urine and he was covered in flea bites. Gaines told authorities she took in a few homeless cats, the cats rapidly reproduced, and things got out of hand.

Now Cato, 32, wants custody of his son.

"He's a very, very caring and intelligent person," said Gary Bullock, Cato's Portland attorney. "And he just doesn't want his little boy to be stuck in this mess."

Cato and Gaines met in 1997, just as Cato was starting his NBA career for the Blazers, said Gaines, who spoke with The Oregonian on Friday.

They began an on-again, off-again romance that ended in 1999 when she became pregnant, she said. Cato moved to Houston to play for the Rockets.

After the boy was born in May 2000, and a paternity test showed Cato was the father, Gaines sought child support of $15,000 a month from the player who was earning $5 million a year.

A judge sided with Cato, saying roughly $2,100 a month in child support was adequate.

Gaines' attorney, Paul Aubry, said Cato is seizing upon an "isolated incident" to gain custody. As proof that Gaines is a good and caring mother, Aubry said, the state Department of Human Services has let her retain custody.

A department spokeswoman said a caseworker is regularly monitoring Gaines, the boy and their new home in Hillsboro.

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Information from: The Oregonian, http://www.oregonlive.com



[Edited by - basketballjones on 01-27-2007 22:14]

And 30 year ols cat ladies are def crazy.

Mom convicted of mistreating son, 6

She "was in denial" about the mess made by her 31 cats, a judge says

By Holly Danks

HILLSBORO -- A Washington County judge on Friday found a 36-year-old woman guilty of criminal mistreatment for letting her 6-year-old son live in filthy conditions with 31 cats in their Beaverton apartment.

After listening to two days of testimony and arguments without a jury, Circuit Judge Steven L. Price took about 25 minutes to convict Jennifer Megan Gaines.

"I think she was in denial," Price said. "This apartment was in terrible, terrible condition."

Photos presented by Megan Johnson, Washington County deputy district attorney, showed stains on walls, carpeting and the son's mattress; overflowing litter boxes; and shredded carpet. One neighbor testified she was afraid that the strong urine smell seeping from Gaines' apartment would harm her own children.

Dustin Moore, a maintenance worker at the Sterling Pointe apartments on Southwest Teal Boulevard in Beaverton, testified that he had to wear a mask for the first time when he was cleaning Gaines' apartment to rent to a new tenant after she moved out at the end of September.

Moore said he has readied two or three apartments a week for the past eight months for new tenants. Gaines' apartment, he said, "was beyond any pet damage I had ever seen, it was worse than all of them combined."

Gaines said she took in three stray cats and within a year had 31 because she allowed the animals to have several generations of kittens. Animal-control workers had to euthanize nine of the original cats and 15 kittens born at the shelter.

Price found Gaines guilty of second-degree animal neglect; he acquitted her of first-degree animal neglect. The cats were dehydrated and had corneal ulcers, upper respiratory infections, ear mites and fleas.

"I had too many cats," Gaines said on cross-examination.

She said she wasn't supposed to have any pets under her lease and actually was relieved when police came to her door June 9 to check on a neighbor's complaint. Gaines said she had tried to get the cats into shelters before, but they were full and some required her to have the animals spayed or neutered.

Gaines said she routinely spent 20 minutes in the morning and half an hour at night cleaning litter boxes and mopping up messes but had missed her regular maintenance for two days before the police came.

Public defender Paul Aubry said Gaines is working with the Oregon Department of Human Services to keep custody of her son. Gaines has met all the state's conditions and passed all the caseworker's inspections since June, when police seized the cats, Aubry said.

"She is mostly worried about her son," Aubry said after the verdicts were announced.

Gaines will be sentenced Jan. 24. Johnson said she would ask for two years of probation and a condition that Gaines not be allowed to have any pets.

These dude is a basket ball player and he is getting at 25 year old Cat ladies????LOL