A slate of animal neglect charges are moving forward after some legal wrangling threatened to undo the Commonwealth’s case.

The case dates to November 2019 when about 40 dogs were seized over two days from two Page Hollow Road properties owned by Michael Dixon, 63, Pittsfield. The rescue of the animals took place on two dates at two properties on Page Hollow Road.

Michael Dixon faces a mix of misdemeanor and summary neglect of animals charges, online court records show.

The Times Observer previously reported that Humane Society staff and volunteers from the society, along with the Pennsylvania State Police responded to seize the animals.

During a recent criminal argument, President Judge Maureen Skerda said two sets of charges were filed in the wake of that seizure. One was filed by the Paws Along The River Humane Society — criminal charges — while the other were filed by a state Dog Warden — non-traffic citations.

The state dog warden’s charges against him were for operating a kennel without a license, failure to obtain a dog license and failure to vaccinate against rabies.

Skerda said a September 2020 preliminary hearing was held where a plea was entered to the lesser charges and the criminal charges were dismissed. The Humane Society subsequently re-filed the criminal charges and — at a second preliminary hearing — those charges were bound over for court.

Dixon’s counsel, Tyler Lindqiust, argued that this amounts to the third time Dixon has faced charges on these allocations and highlighted charging documents that purport the observations by both charging entities to have been the same day.

The District Attorney’s office said it was unaware that the plea to the lesser charges was entered and suggested that Dixon’s attorney at that hearing was “trying to create a loophole in the law” to avoid a harsher sentence. The DA’s office also suggested that the charges were filed separately because they had to be for jurisdictional reasons.

Skerda didn’t rule at the hearing but online court records show that she denied Lindquist’s motion to dismiss with a memorandum opinion several days later.