DIANNE LUND-JOHNSON

IRON MOUNTAIN — A Hardwood woman has accepted a plea deal and will be sentenced in August on misdemeanor charges stemming from an April incident in which deputies found multiple animal carcasses dumped near her animal shelter, which was operating without a valid kennel license.

Dianne Marie Lund-Johnson, 53, pleaded to kennel facility violations and animals-burial, both three-month misdemeanors, in Dickinson County District Court. Prosecutors then dismissed a charge of abandoning or cruelty to two or three animals, a one-year misdemeanor.

Terms of the deal — offered by the Dickinson County Prosecutor’s Office but not yet ordered by a judge — require Lund-Johnson to not operate or assist any animal shelter, rescue, kennel or daycare, and to not have more than four dogs, two horses, one pony and five alpacas.

Lund-Johnson must provide sufficient food, water, veterinary care and housing conditions for these animals and will be subject to random inspections by deputies or the animal control officer, according to the deal.

The prosecutor’s office agreed to recommend community service work and probation instead of a jail term.

Judge Christopher Ninomiya will decide the exact sentence Aug. 22 in district court.

Dickinson County deputies and the animal control officer went to Ride Outs Road between Foster City and Hardwood on April 10 to check on a complaint of animal carcasses next to the road in the ditch, according to the criminal complaint.

They discovered the remains of several dogs — which had been euthanized by a veterinarian — an alpaca and some chickens, sheriff’s officials said.

Deputies found the carcasses had come from a nearby residence that Lund-Johnson was operating as an animal rescue shelter called Noah’s Nordic Ark.

Lund-Johnson previously told The Daily News the animals had died during the winter, so she placed their remains in an area where her other dogs wouldn’t disturb them before she could properly bury them in the spring.

Deputies also determined Lund-Johnson was in violation of a county ordinance prohibiting residents from having more than four dogs unless they have a kennel license. She had nine dogs, and had not renewed her kennel license since 2014, the criminal complaint stated.

Sheriff’s officials said they took five of the dogs, which Lund-Johnson voluntarily gave up, to the Almost Home Animal Shelter later that week.

At least three of the dogs had been in kennels that either were too small or in dark locations with little human interaction, according to the complaint.

Nikki Younk can be reached at 906-774-2772, ext. 41, or nyounk@ironmountaindailynews.com.