Ashley Copson, 29, Charlestown Avenue, has been charged with two counts level 6 felony torturing or mutilating a vertebrate animal, and two counts class A misdemeanor cruelty to an animal.
The Jeffersonville Police Department responded to Copson’s home in October in reference to an animal-abuse complaint. When officers arrived to her apartment in Fulton Terrace, they spoke with an employee of the Jeffersonville Housing Authority.
The employee reported that “there was a complaint of a K9 in the apartment ... that looked abused, and the resident [suspect], an Ashley Copson, was not at the residence,” according to the probable cause affidavit.
Jeffersonville Animal Control responded to the apartment and removed a starving dog and a second dog from the home, which was dead.
Police made contact with Copson, who stated she was out of town at the time.
A warrant was issued by Clark County Circuit Court No. 3 for Copson’s arrest Nov. 10, weeks after police had responded to her home.
Sarah Green, director of J. B. Ogle Animal Shelter in Jeffersonville, said Monday that she could recall taking in the ailing dog, a medium-sized, mixed breed, adding that it was one of the worst cases of animal abuse she has encountered.
“He was just left to die,” Green said, “He was days away from death.”
Investigators say they found the starving dog in October curled up next to a puppy that had already starved to death in Copson's apartment.
Green says the surviving dog was days away from death. He was in such poor condition that it was taken to an emergency-medical clinic for pets in Louisville.
The dog was later transferred to the care of Rebecca Eaves, president of The Arrow Fund, an area nonprofit organization that provides treatment to pets that have suffered extreme abuse or neglect.
Eaves said the dog suffered from severe skin conditions and required a number of blood transfusions.
“He came in filthy and full of fleas. It was a very, very bad case,” she said. “He was so anemic he was nearly dead.”
The dog was adopted several weeks ago from The Arrow Fund by one of the veterinarians who had treated him after he had been taken from the home by Jeffersonville Animal Control.
“He is now in a home with a wonderful family that has children that he just adores,” Eaves said. “He lives in a happy home.”
The Clarksville Police Department served the warrant for Copson’s arrest and preliminary charged her, in an unrelated incident, with possession of paraphernalia, a class A misdemeanor, which is scheduled to be presented in Clarksville Town Court.
Copson appeared for an initial hearing in Clark County Circuit Court No. 3 on Monday, at which time she appeared without legal counsel and a not guilty plea was entered. She is being held in the jail under a $2,500 court-cash bond.
According to Clark County jail staff, Copson remained in the facility late Monday afternoon.
(News and Tribune - Dec 22, 2014)
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