A Halethorpe woman charged with 328 counts of animal abuse a year ago is taking a role in finding homes for the dogs, cats, birds and reptiles that prosecutors say were harmed in her care — and she may be able to recoup money she spent purchasing the pets.

On Feb. 3, a year after officials removed 82 animals from Kimberly Klein’s Francis Street home, Baltimore County Circuit Judge Wendy Epstein ordered the 53-year-old woman to cooperate with Baltimore County Animal Services and “make a good-faith effort to re-home the animals currently in their possession.”

As a result of that order, families who had been fostering Klein’s animals for a year — some hoping to adopt them — have had to surrender the pets to the Baldwin shelter, which now has to rehome them again under Klein’s direction.

“Why is she involved in this process if she was arrested for harming them?” asked Karen Oakjones, who took in one of the animals in July.

It’s standard in cases in which authorities seize animals for prospective adopters to wait until a case is resolved before they can make a foster home permanent. Less common is having the person charged with animal cruelty deciding where the animals go.

Klein’s attorney, Larry Goldberg, said his client sought that role in her agreement to enter an Alford plea to two counts of animal abuse, for which she received a year of probation. An Alford plea allows Klein to maintain her innocence while acknowledging the state has enough evidence to convict her.

She has been out on $2,500 bail since her March 2025 arrest. Goldberg told the judge he planned to seek a modification to the sentence so she can get some animals back; the plea allows her to keep only four now.

“We negotiated these animals would be rehomed to places where people would own these animals,” he said. “These animals were not the property of Baltimore County; they were the property of Kimberly Klein.”

Goldberg said his client “spoke to people in the community who do this, and the shelter spoke to them and cleared them.”

This arrangement, he added, was not a ruse for Klein to get back her animals.

“If that occurred,” he said, “she would go back to jail.”

Klein did not return calls seeking comment.

A grand jury indicted Klein on 80 felony charges that, combined, carried penalties of 240 years in prison and fines in excess of $400,000. It indicted her on 248 misdemeanors.

The felony charges were for “intentional torture” of 80 animals, including 27 birds, 16 dogs, 11 geckos, eight fish, six tortoises, three cats, two pigs and one of each of the following: iguana, bearded dragon, snake, ferret, hamster and rabbit. One felony charge did not specify a breed.

Among the dogs were pit bulls, dachshunds, Bernese mountain dogs, a Great Dane and Rottweilers. Misdemeanor charges included acting to “unlawfully cause, procure, or authorize the infliction of unnecessary suffering,” along with withholding veterinary care.

Klein asked the district court to compensate her for the loss of the animals, a sum valued at $120,000. That proceeding, known as a replevin action, used to recover personal property that’s been wrongfully taken, will be Thursday.

Baltimore County State’s Attorney Scott D. Shellenberger said the rehoming agreement provides Klein with “the ability to recoup” some of the funds she spent acquiring and caring for the animals.

Goldberg said he’s unsure whether his client has recouped any money — only that the agreement allows her to do so.

Baltimore County Animal Services spent significant time and resources housing Klein’s animals and finding homes for the ones it did not have space for over the past 11 months. Spokesperson Abigail Isaacs did not have a figure for those costs but said the facility does whatever necessary to help animals in its care.

Foster families have returned 17 animals; the remainder are expected to come in by the end of February.

Asked if she worried Klein’s involvement in rehoming would alienate future potential fosters, Isaacs said, “We trust our law enforcement and legal partners to enforce court orders appropriately.”

Shellenberger said he was satisfied, especially because the plea agreement stipulates that animal control officials can enter Klein’s home and determine if she is abiding by the agreement not to adopt new animals. Klein also will undergo mental health counseling.

“When you consider the whole picture,” he said, “we got to a reasonable conclusion.”

Although a judge released Klein on bail on the condition she have “no contact with animals,” Baltimore County prosecutors petitioned to revoke Klein’s bail last summer. Assistant State’s Attorney Alexander Walsh said the state “received repeated phone calls” from neighbors that Klein had animals at her home. Police responded numerous times but were not able to speak with anyone.

Walsh wrote in the petition that prosecutors learned she had been trying to foster and adopt animals from other organizations.

Klein acknowledged to the court in a letter that she’d applied to adopt a dog from Prince George’s County animal management but said the dog was for a friend who lives on the Eastern Shore. She didn’t say why the friend could not adopt the husky without her assistance, but she repudiated the adoption contract.

Oakjones said she received an email from the shelter saying foster families likely would have to surrender the animals.

She said shelter officials suggested to her that similar kinds of animals could be adopted together — such as one person taking the lizards — but the shelter had not heard back from prospects. Oakjones was concerned the animals could be sold and their well-being would not be the primary consideration.

Oakjones said her son had bonded with the pet she fostered and she spent hundreds of dollars on supplies. She did that, she said, because the shelter initially told her she likely would be able to keep it.

Correction: This article has been updated to specify that Karen Oakjones fostered, not adopted, the pet she took in.