DENVER -- A state inspector assigned to monitor the facility where nearly 100 starving dogs were found in December missed or ignored repeated warnings that the dogs were in danger, according to a complaint letter obtained by CALL7 Investigators.

Mark and Debra Su Stephens, who own a sled dog facility near the one raided in December, wrote on Jan. 11 that the inspector did not respond to their warnings about the Pawsatrak Racing Sled Dogs.

“We are sick at what we found at the … kennel on December 14, 2009,” the Stephens wrote. “This was a failure on the State Department of Agriculture’s PACFA program in epic proportions.”

Kate Anderson, the director of the Pet Animal Care Facilities Act program that is charged with inspecting animal facilities, investigated the complaint but found no wrongdoing by inspector Cynthia Thompson.

Less than a month after the complaint, Anderson wrote the Stephens to tell them her investigation found no problems with Thompson’s inspection and that Thompson was a “valuable asset” to the PACFA program.

"Ms. Thompson's qualifications as an inspector and animal care specialist are excellent," Anderson wrote.

She repeated that the inspection was properly done in an interview with CALL7 Investigator Tony Kovaleski.

“I completed the investigation into the history of that facility and that inspector's investigation and found no reason for any disciplinary action at this time,” Anderson said.

In December, Park County Sheriff’s deputies raided the isolated Pawsatrak facility, saying they found nearly 100 dogs in various states of dehydration and starvation, as well as about a half dozen dead animals. The dogs’ owners, Sam and Diane Walker of Florrisant, have been charged with more than two dozen misdemeanor animal cruelty and two felony aggravated animal cruelty charges.

In the four-page complaint letter, the Stephens wrote that they saw dehydrated, thin dogs at Pawsatrak, and the facility did not have proper housing or water. The ground was contaminated with feces, vermin and run-off from dead dog carcasses, the letter said. The Stephens said they had been working with the Walkers to improve Pawsatrak and helped the Walkers place some of their dogs.

Anderson said that Thompson inspected the facility in February 2009 and found no serious violations and that there were no complaints that would have prompted an inspection between February and December, when the dogs were found.

But in May the Stephens talked to Thompson when she was inspecting their facility and recommended that she do a surprise inspection of Pawsatrak when the weather turned colder. Thompson said it was a good idea, according to the letter, but that inspection never happened.

Instead, Park County Sheriff's deputies raided the facility after a call to the Humane Society of the United States.

In February, a CALL7 investigation found police reports and PACFA inspections that repeatedly noted thin and hungry dogs on both of Walkers’ Park and Teller county properties. Despite that information, PACFA continued to renew the Walkers’ license.

The Stephens wrote that Thompson should have clearly seen the lack of bedding, food and water for about 100 dogs the Walkers owned.

"All the signs were there from the beginning," the Stephens wrote. “Both my wife and I feel that Ms. Thompson should be pulled from inspecting any facility and re-trained or fired immediately. She is, in our opinion, not competent enough to inspect anything!”

Anderson said she cannot fault the inspector because the dogs looked healthy when Thompson visited the facilities in February 2009. Anderson did not address repeated questions -- in several interviews --- about why inspectors missed the warning signs in police and PACFA records, as well as from the Stephens.

While dismissing the Stephens' complaint as without merit, Anderson also wrote that Thompson believed the facility would be safe for the animals because the Stephens were involved with helping the Walkers improve Pawsatrak.

“Your involvement in the Walkers facility was part of the confidence that Inspector Cindy Thompson had that the animal care would be adequate,” Anderson wrote in response to the Stephens' complaint.

The Stephens declined to go on camera, but said in a phone interview that they were disappointed Anderson's investigation concluded with no action against Thompson.

CALL7 investigators have learned that the Park County District Attorney office has obtained the letter and interviewed the Stephens as part of his prosecution of the Walkers.

The dogs seized at the Pawsatrak facility are either at area shelters or have been adopted.