CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Five years after Eyewitness News’ undercover cameras first documented horrific conditions inside the breeding business of Delores Perez, after sheriff's deputies seized 250 filthy and abused animals there, and after a judge ordered Perez to repay the Humane Society thousands of dollars for their care, the call finally came to Humane Society of Union County board member Cindy Poppino that Perez was paying up.

“It kind of gives me the goose bumps that we're able to turn something that was so horrible into maybe something good that will benefit dogs and cats,” Poppino said.

The family of Perez sent a check for over $39,000 to Union County's Humane Society, and it also paid nearly $50,000 in legal fees to the attorneys who took their case to court.

For Perez, it's an abrupt turnaround. After being convicted of animal cruelty in 2003, she appeared to ignore a judge's order to pay the money and instead moved to California. When Eyewitness News reporters found her there three years ago, she was defiant.

“So you don't feel like you owe that money?” asked reporter Jim Bradley in Nov. 2005.

“No,” Perez said.

“Even though the judge ordered you to pay it?” Bradley asked.

“No,” she said again.

The judge eventually allowed the Humane Society to put a lien on Perez's old puppy mill property, and when it moved toward foreclosure, the Perez family agreed to settle and recently mailed the check.

Some of the dogs that survived a life of abuse with Perez are now thriving, said adoptive owner Veronica Kelso.

“One-hundred percent transformation. An absolutely terrorized, traumatized little boy, and now he lives an almost normal life,” she said.

The Humane Society is already using some of the money from Perez to help other rescue groups and hopes to use the rest to open a new spay and neuter facility in Union County.

“It is kind of a good feeling that we can turn around and help some others,” Poppino said.

Some of the money Perez paid to the Humane Society has been donated to help pay the vet bills of animals seized from a woman in Lincoln County last month. Also, the law firm that worked on the case is donating all of the $50,000 it got from Perez -- $10,000 to the Humane Society in Union County and the rest to similar groups in the area.

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