Embattled animal owner Lord, co-defendant, jailed

Embattled attorney Nancy Lord was handcuffed and taken into custody on Monday after she and her co-defendant, Lawrence Moore, arrived 30 minutes late for their scheduled court appearance before Judge Margaret Whitaker.

Both were in Pahurmp Justice Courtfor arraignment on several animal code violations dating back several years.

When all was said and done, bond for Lord was set at $50,000 while Moore’s was set at $10,000.

A bench trial for Lord is scheduled for April 21, at 9 a.m.

Though the hearing was scheduled to begin at 9 a.m., Lord’s appointed public defender, Nathan Gent told Whitaker his client was not in the courtroom.

“I have no idea why she is not here today.” Gent said.

Nye County Deputy District Attorney Michael Vieta-Kabell reminded Whitaker of Lord’s history of tardiness and previous failures to appear over a period of several years, in relation to the case.

“Not only is she repeatedly reoffending in defiance of this court, but she is thumbing her nose by failing to appear,” he said. “I am going to ask for bench warrants in all of these cases.”

After assuming Lord and Moore were a definite no-show for the hearing, Whitaker issued a bench warrant for both and moved on to the next case.

Roughly 30 minutes later however, both defendants arrived at the courthouse much to the surprise of prosecutors and several observers following the case.

When queried by Whitaker about her late arrival, Lord replied she was ‘caring for a sick puppy,’ at home.

Both were subsequently handcuffed and placed into custody by the court bailiff shortly after their arrival.

“The court started at 9 a.m., not at your convenience,” Whitaker said. “That’s it. I’m done, I’m done. You never show up on time. I’m done, I’m done.”

Lord is facing multiple charges from allowing her animals to run at large, failure to provide proper sustenance and torture at her Pechstein Street neighborhood off of Blagg Road.

On Tuesday, Lord and Moore, still in custody, appeared before Judge Gus Sullivan in the matter. Vieta-Kabell successfully urged Sullivan to keep the defendants in custody.

“I argued to keep her in custody because she continually fails to appear for her cases or shows up 20, 30, and sometimes 60 minutes late,” he said following the hearing. “Frankly, she deserves to be in custody. If you can’t make your court appearances that’s what happens.”

After hearing arguments from the state and Lord’s newly-appointed public defender Lisa Chamlee, Sullivan remanded both into custody.

“The reason why Nancy Lord is in jail is because she failed to appear for a 9 a.m. hearing on Monday,” Vieta-Kabell said. “She has multiple new criminal prosecutions against her. She had a status check for failure to abide by the court sentence in a 2014 case. The new cases are the same old cases, including animals running at large, dogs in excess of limits per Nye County animal ordinance.”

Lord’s problems did not end with her incarceration on Monday.

The following day, she found herself in an eviction hearing before Sullivan.

An attorney representing Duke Partners LLC, a management consulting firm, argued that Lord has no claim to the property.

“Per the owners of the property, she needs to get out,” the attorney said. “There is no legal justification for her being on the property.”

Following arguments between Lord and the attorney, Sullivan ruled in favor of the consulting firm.

Lord has until Tuesday April 19, to vacate the property.

Moore, meanwhile, has since bailed out of custody.

Though Vieta-Kabell was not a party to that hearing, he said Sullivan made the right decision.

“That’s a civil issue between the new owners of the property and Ms. Lord,” he said. “As a preliminary matter, the judge did give at least temporary possession, which will later be made permanent to the new owners of the property. He gave Ms. Lord one week to vacate the property.”

Officials with Nye County Animal Control this week removed all but five of the several dozen dogs on the property, to bring Lord and Moore into compliance with the ordinance.

Contact reporter Selwyn Harris at sharris@pvtimes.com. On Twitter: @pvtimes