A 68-year-old woman was charged Monday with misdemeanors accusing her of allowing her dogs to regularly escape her property and be aggressive toward her neighbors, including children, prosecutors said. The Rancho Santa Fe woman was charged by the District Attorney’s Office on one count each of maintaining a nuisance and permitting/maintaining a nuisance after a notice, prosecutors said. She pleaded not guilty and is due to return to court next month. If convicted as charged, she faces a maximum of one year in jail and a $1,000 fine. The woman used a public defender at the arraignment in Vista Superior Court, but she is expected to use a retained attorney going forward, the District Attorney’s Office said. She could not be immediately reached for comment Wednesday. Prosecutors allege she had been warned and notified in writing by the county’s animal services department after they received multiple complaints from residents about her dogs. Investigators also said they had received reports of abused horses at a separate property owned by the same woman on Artesian Road west of Camino Del Sur. County officials said they visited the property and an officer found an elderly horse down and trapped in mud, the Union-Tribune previously reported. The horse died before the officer could euthanize it. While the charges filed Monday relate to dogs and not horses, the case allows for a court to order enhanced supervision and monitoring that can result in the protection of the other animals, prosecutors said. “People deserve to feel safe in their own neighborhood, and working with our investigative partners at the county, we determined the situation warranted misdemeanor criminal charges based on community feedback, the facts and the evidence,” District Attorney Summer Stephan said. The case is being handled by the District Attorney’s Animal Cruelty Prosecution Unit. Since being established in 2018, the team has filed 368 criminal cases related to animal cruelty.