BAKERSFIELD, Calif. -- An animal-hoarding woman won't go to jail on cruelty charges, but she may for identity theft.

Cynthia Gudger was sentenced Monday in Kern County Superior Court to five years probation for five counts of animal cruelty, which she pleaded no contest to in January.

Instead of being released from jail, however, Gudger is being handed off to federal custody to face charges of identity theft.

Gudger was was widely known by her false alias of Anita Gilbert when animal control officials seized nearly 50 dogs and cats from Gudger's Tehachapi home in July 2008. She skipped out on a court appearance that August but was arrested two months later.

When she was last arrested, Gudger was staying in an Oxnard motel with about 20 cats, including one dead cat in a freezer. She has been in custody since then.

Kern County deputy district attorney Mike Yraceburn said Monday that the federal government is now accusing Gudger of using other people's identities to collect Social Security benefits.

Gudger must also face an outstanding warrant from Riverside County that accuses her in an earlier animal cruelty case, Yraceburn said.