Woman who left her six pets to die in her foreclosed house sobs in court as she is jailed for a year

FLORIDA -- A Florida woman will spend one year and a day behind bars after leaving her six pets to starve to death in her foreclosed home.

Toni Phelps, 41, left three dogs and three cats to fend for themselves after her Gulf Breeze home was repossessed by a bank in spring 2012, but insisted to investigators she had left them in her boyfriend’s care.

Authorities found the withered corpses in the home along with evidence the animals ate trash and furniture in a futile attempt to stay alive, according to the Pensacola News Journal.

At the Santa Rosa County Courthouse on Wednesday, Phelps, sobbing and short of breath, repeatedly told Circuit Judge John Simon that she didn’t leave the animals to die, and that someone must have broken into the home and put the animals back inside.

“They were my family. That’s all I had,” she said. “Those were my kids. They were my family, that’s all I had.”
The judge wasn’t convinced.

‘Frankly, Ms. Phelps, you’re going to jail because this is just terrible,’ he said.

Neighbors reportedly told police they heard the animals wailing inside the abandoned home for about six months, and investigators claimed they found bags of dog food among the trash strewn through it.

The court determined Phelps was the one leaving the food, and that she knew the pets were suffering.

‘All you had to do is call someone on the phone,’ said the judge. ‘All you had to do was open the door. To allow them to die in this fashion is terrible.’

Neighbors even called animal control, but the workers were denied entry by the woman, the prosecutor said.

The animals’ remains were only discovered when a sheriff’s deputy was able to obtain a warrant after seeing a dead animal through a window, according to the paper.

Phelps was also sentenced to 10 years of probation and barred from working with or owning animals.

‘I didn’t do it,’ she repeatedly claimed while crying as she was led out of the courtroom.

Three representatives from animal advocacy organization Animal Justice Rally Group came to the Santa Rosa County Courthouse to watch the proceeding. They said that justice was served.

“The worst thing is she has to live with what she’s done,” group member Diana Bennett said.

(Daily Mail - April 17, 2014)