Pennsylvania: Nicole Baker starved her dog until it looked like a skeleton and then abandoned it - alive - inside a trash can

PENNSYLVANIA -- A woman accused of leaving her starving dog alone in a garbage can, where the animal was mixed in among pieces of trash, took a plea deal Wednesday.

Nicole Baker pleaded guilty to a summary charge of disorderly conduct and agreed to enter the Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition program for first-time offenders on a charge of animal cruelty, according to her attorney, Chris Huffman.

 

Baker quickly left the magistrate court in East Huntingdon Township after entering her plea and declined comment to Pittsburgh's Action News 4, other than to say, "Why don't you leave me alone?"

She will be ordered to do community service, pay $620 in restitution and undergo a mental health evaluation.

"I think she needed to answer for what she did. At least there is going to be a guilty plea on there, on her record," humane agent Jan Dillon said after the hearing.

Formerly named Mia, and now Fawna, the dog was described as "skin and bones" by the Humane Society of Westmoreland County after a trash collector reported finding her inside a garbage bag and garbage can outside Baker's former Hempfield Township home on Oct. 30.

Dillon said Baker will no longer be allowed to adopt a dog in Pennsylvania, and she was told that Baker intends to move back to Texas.

 

 

 

State police contended that Baker left the dog in the garbage can and moved to Texas to be with her boyfriend. Investigators reviewed text messages that they said Baker sent to friends after the story of her dog went public.

"By reading through the messages and things of that nature, she had intentionally misled people that were offering to help when it came to taking care of Mia, the dog. She acknowledged the fact that at some point in time, she realized what she was doing, she fully knew it was wrong, and still she put a dog, her dog, in a garbage can," Trooper Stephen Limani said Nov. 5.

Baker's daughter, Brittany Prinkey, lives next door to the trailer where her mother lived before moving to Texas. Prinkey said she was subjected to harassment and threats after the dog was found in the trash.

"People have been throwing stuff at my house, at my car, threatening me, telling me I should die, I should be put in a trash bag and left to suffocate without food and water," Prinkey said in November. "I never thought my mom would be able to do something like that. It's my mom. I never thought she would do something like that."

Since being found in the trash can, Fawna has gained weight and received donated toys, sweaters and treats from Burton's Total Pet in Greensburg. She was adopted by a veterinary technician who works with the Humane Society.

Prinkey described her relationship with her mother as estranged and said Fawna was healthy when she last saw the dog in July.

"I'm super-upset with her. I just don't understand how someone could do that," Prinkey said. "I didn't have any involvement with what my mom did. I didn't even know I was on the application. I was informed later that I was down as a second contact. I wasn't an owner."

Baker apparently put down Prinkey's name as a contact when she adopted the dog in April, but did not list Prinkey as a co-owner, Prinkey said. She said she found out what happened to Fawna when people called her at work.

"I was so upset, I felt like I was going to throw up. I was so sick to my stomach about everything. I couldn't believe it. That garbage can is right over there. I didn't hear anything. No one heard anything. No one knew. It's disgusting," Prinkey said.

(WTAE - Jan 21, 2015)