A woman accused of animal cruelty in Kern County may be the same woman facing similar charges in Riverside County. Animal Control officers from Riverside identified the suspect during a court hearing in Mojave on Friday.

Eyewitness News was also in the courtroom of the Mojave Superior Court when 59-year-old Anita Gilbert appeared on the Kern County charges.

Riverside Department of Animal Services Field Commander Rita Gutierrez says Gilbert is the woman they knew as "Barbara Ryan."

Riverside County has an arrest warrant out for Ryan from a 2006 case. Gutierrez says Ryan skipped out on that case. She's wanted on five felony counts of animal cruelty and one count of vandalism.

The vandalism comes from damage to a house Ryan was allegedly renting in the community of Hemet. That's where the case started when a neighbor reported a cockroach infestation.

When Riverside officials investigated, they found the house next door in filthy condition with about 40 cats and dogs inside.

"They were tied so closely to cabinets and walls, there was so much urine on the floor that it was wicking up into the drywall -- the drywall was disintegrating," Officer Gutierrez told Eyewitness News.

"The curtains had wicked up urine about half-way up the walls. The animals were standing in so much that their pads were being burned by the urine and the feces burned their flesh," says Gutierrez.

The officer says the animals were infested with fleas and roaches. Gutierrez says Riverside seized more than 40 animals, and some eventually died because of the condition they were in.

Near Tehachapi, Kern County Animal Control officers seized about 60 cats and dogs from a warehouse on Bear Valley Road where Gilbert was living. Officers said conditions were dangerous and unsanitary.

In that warehouse, local officers found paperwork linking Gilbert to the case in Riverside -- that's when they contacted officials in that county.

The Riverside officer says, not only did they identify "Gilbert" as the woman from their case -- some of the animals seized by Kern County are the same animals they had seized.

Officer Gutierrez says a judge in Riverside County allowed the 40 animals taken from "Barbara Ryan" to be returned to a doctor and some animal rescue groups.

"Under the judge's order, those animals did go to these different organizations," says Gutierrez. "But oddly enough, when we were just here at the Kern County animal shelter, we identified these animals as ones that were supposed to be held within these organizations or adopted out to other people."

Gutierrez says they have no idea how Gilbert -- or Ryan -- got back into possession of these animals.

In Kern County, Anita Gilbert faces 41 felony charges of animal cruelty. In court on Friday she asked the judge to let her represent herself.

Judge John Oglesby refused that request, citing Gilbert's behavior in court and the serious nature of the charges against her. Judge Oglesby reduce Gilbert's bail from $205,000 to $100,000 -- and appointed a public defender to her case.

On Thursday, in a jail-house interview -- Gilbert said Kern County Animal Control Director Denise Haynes had given her five dogs to rescue. Gilbert said that happened late last year.

Eyewitness News asked Resource Management Agency Director Dave Price about that. On Friday, Price said that department had checked, and found no record that ever happened.

Price says they checked adoption and rescue records under both "Anita Gilbert" and "Barbara Ryan." They also checked all records for rescue groups and for the address near Tehachapi where Gilbert was found with the animals.

Riverside County officials say they'll work with Kern County on this case. Animal Control officer Rita Gutierrez says her office is sure this is the same woman they want for the 2006 case. Eyewitness News asked what she might know about the two different names.

"We have no idea," says Gutierrez. "None at all. In fact, we even have her original rental agreement with the property-owner in Hemet (where the 40 animals were found) and she used a different name."