North Carolina: Lou Ann Cain charged with animal cruelty after dead, sick cats found in her trailer

NORTH CAROLINA -- A Cumberland County woman charged with animal cruelty after law enforcement found one dead cat and three other sick cats locked inside a mobile home earlier this week made her first appearance in court Wednesday afternoon.

One of only 2 surviving cats

Lou Ann Cain, whose age was not available, was charged with three counts of cruelty to animals, the Cumberland County Sheriff's Office said in a news release.

 

Cain went to the Law Enforcement Center to be served with the warrants. Her bail was set at $10,000 unsecured, and she was released on the condition that she appear in court, the release said.

A representative from the Cumberland County District Attorney's Office asked Cumberland County District Court Judge Talmage Baggett to secure Cain's bond because more charges may be filed against her.

 

 

 

Cain asked Baggett to leave her bail unsecured.

"I'm on medical leave right now," Cain said. "I'm under a doctor's care right now."

Cain has been on medical leave from her job in the city of Fayetteville's maintenance department since May, city spokesman Nathan Walls said.

Baggett secured Cain's bail and she was arrested.

Deputies on Monday discovered three cats locked inside the mobile home at 208 Redfish Drive off U.S. 301 in the Taylors Creek Mobile Home Park after the property manager asked for a well-being check on Cain. One had to be euthanized due to illness.

Deputies said Cain claimed she checked on the animals every day, but investigators say the animal's badly malnourished conditions indicate otherwise.

 

"The hoarder situation is such that it is unsafe to move anything inside the trailer in order to see if there are any more deceased animals in the trailer," Lauby said. "No more live animals have been heard inside the trailer."

Lt. Sean Swain said it is possible that more dead animals are inside in addition to the dead cat deputies found. Deputies had to halt their investigation due to biohazards in the mobile home. Dr. John Lauby, the director of Cumberland County Animal Control, has said the mobile home resembled a “hoarder situation.”

On Tuesday, a Cumberland County building inspector went to the mobile home at the center of the animal neglect case and declared it uninhabitable.

 

 

 

 

Code enforcement officials are waiting for the county Board of Commissioners to decide what to do with the home.

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(Fayetteville Observer - July 12, 2017)