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Dog Groomer Sentenced For Beating Customer's Dog

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Nov 20, 2007 9:33 am US/Eastern

Dog Groomer Sentenced For Beating Customer's Dog

TOWSON, Md. (AP) ― A Baltimore County dog groomer has been ordered to surrender her license and serve 90 days in jail for beating a customer's poodle, causing its death.

Celeste Rainone, 53, of Shrewsbury, Pa., also must pay more than $2,300 in restitution to the dog owner.

Rainone was sentenced on an animal cruelty charge Monday in Baltimore County District Court and is scheduled to go to trial next week on charges she injured another dog.

At her sentencing, Rainone apologized, saying she couldn't control herself. Her attorney read from a psychiatric evaluation showing that Rainone had surgery in 2004 for a cerebral hemorrhage, has had occasional seizures and has been diagnosed with a panic disorder.

She has been the operator of Grooming By Celeste for about 11 years. Her attorney says she worked previously as a veterinarian's assistant and exercised horses at Maryland race tracks.

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