(February 2018) In Florida, you can slowly starve a dog to death and Volusia County Judge Bryan Feigenbaum will only make you spend about a month in the county jail

DAYTONA BEACH, FLORIDA -- An Edgewater woman was sentenced to 120 days in the county jail Wednesday after police said she starved her pit bull, which eventually died despite efforts by rescuers to try and save the dog’s life.

Sarah Wells, 37, had originally been charged with FELONY ANIMAL CRUELTY in which she faced up to FIVE YEARS IN PRISON if convicted.

Instead, lazy prosecutors and Volusia County Judge Bryan Feigenbaum let her plead "no contest" to the less serious charge of MISDEMEANOR ANIMAL CRUELTY -- essentially the same level of crime as driving without insurance, shoplifting, vandalism and driving without a license. The crime of slowly starving this poor dog to death, in the eyes of the law, is equal to someone stealing a DVD from Walmart.

Volusia County Judge Bryan Feigenbaum adjudicated Wells guilty and sentenced her to 120 days in the county jail followed by 12 months of unsupervised probation based on the plea agreement.

Wells is barred from owning any animals while on probation. But as soon as her one-year probation ends, she is free to get new animals and starve them to death.

So she doesn't get sentenced to state prison, she is only sent to the county jail -- which is much easier and more lenient than a state prison. With jail overcrowding, most inmates are only required to serve 1/3 of their sentence - so this really means she's only been sentenced to 40 days, about a month for the crime of slowly starving her dog to death. 

 

 

Animal abusers will only be deterred from abusing and killing animals when the punishment fits the crime. Also, if you look at Wells' criminal history, you'll see one arrest after another for domestic violence/battery. In fact, she was arrested for bettery AFTER she had been arrested for animal cruelty!!! 

Seems no one in Volusia County cares that she is 100% guaranteed to continue to abuse animals and humans without fear of punishment.

SHAMEFUL:

Volusia County Judge Bryan Feigenbaum is an embarrassment

The case started when police were called Dec. 20 to the Edgewater Animal Shelter, 605 Mango Tree Drive, where they were told that a woman had surrendered a sickly dog the previous day, according to an arrest report.

The woman, later identified as Wells, claimed to shelter staff that the Pit Bull was a stray that had simply walked onto her property, a report stated. But animal shelter staffers were skeptical because the dog was so malnourished that it even wasn’t able to stand up on its own, police said.

Wells subsequently admitted to lying to animal shelter workers, police said. She said the dog named Wiggins had belonged to her and to a man who had lived at the house.

Shelter workers took the dog to Newman Veterinary Center where staff worked to try to save its life. Animal shelter employees renamed the dog Adonis and mounted a social media campaign to help pay for the dog’s care. However, the dog's vital organs had shut down due to the extreme starvation and, despite their best efforts, he died.

“Our sweet Adonis took a serious turn for the worse this afternoon,” the Edgewater Animal Shelter wrote in a Facebook post on Feb. 15. “He passed away surrounded by people that loved him. His body just gave up, he could not overcome the starvation and neglect he suffered.”

 

 

ARREST HISTORY FOR SARAH WELLS:

ARREST DATE: MARCH 26, 2011
Full Name: Sarah Marie Wells
Date:03/26/2011
Arresting Agency: SDPD - SOUTH DAYTONA POLICE DEPARTMENT
Arrest Age:30
Current Age: 36
Gender: Female
Race: White
Birthdate: 11/21/1980
Block: 500 Reed Canal Rd
City: South Daytona, Florida 32119
Charges
#1 BATTERY (DV = DOMESTIC VIOLENCE)

ARREST DATE: NOVEMBER 14, 2011
Full Name: Sarah Marie Wells
Date:11/14/2011
Arresting Agency: EWPD - EDGEWATER POLICE
Arrest Age:30
Current Age: 36
Gender: Female
Race: White
Birthdate: 11/21/1980
Charges
#1 DOMESTIC BATTERY

ARREST DATE: JANUARY 9, 2013
Full Name: Sarah M Wells
Date:01/09/2013
Time: 1:59 AM
Arresting Agency: EWPD - EDGEWATER POLICE
Total Bond: $1500
Arrest Age:32
Current Age: 36
Gender: Female
Race: White
Birthdate: 11/21/1980
Block: Sandhill Rd
City: Ballybunnion, Kerry
Charges
#1 BATTERY CAUSE BODILY HARM
STATUTE: 784.03(1)(a)2
BOND: $1500

ARREST DATE: DECEMBER 21, 2017
Full Name: Sarah M Wells
Date:12/21/2017
Time: 3:35 PM
Arresting Agency: EWPD - EDGEWATER POLICE
Total Bond: $5000
Arrest Age:37
Gender: Female
Race: White
Birthdate: 11/21/1980
Block: 300 Berry St
City: San Francisco, California 94158
Charges
#1 FELONY CRUELTY TO ANIMALS
STATUTE: 828.12(2)(a)
BOND: $5000

ARREST DATE: JANUARY 12, 2018
Full Name: Sarah M Wells
Date:01/12/2018
Time: 12:00 PM
Arresting Agency: VCSO - VOLUSIA COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE
Total Bond: $5000
Arrest Age:37
Gender: Female
Race: White
Birthdate: 11/21/1980
Block: 300 Berry St
City: San Francisco, California 94158
Charges
#1 BATTERY
STATUTE: 784.03(1)(a)
BOND: $5000

IF YOU LIVE IN THIS AREA, CALL JUDGE FEIGENBAUM'S OFFICE AND LET THEM KNOW HOW YOU FEEL ABOUT THIS SENTENCE:

Judge Bryan A. Feigenbaum
Division 80
125 E. Orange Avenue
Daytona Beach, FL  32114
Phone (386) 257-6074
Fax (386) 248-8136

Volusia County Court Judge Bryan A. Feigenbaum was appointed to the bench in 2010. Before becoming a judge, he was an assistant state attorney for the Office of the State Attorney, Seventh Judicial Circuit. Judge Feigenbaum earned an undergraduate degree from Davidson College and juris doctor from the University of Florida. He currently hears criminal cases and presides over Veterans Court at the Volusia County Courthouse Annex at City Island in Daytona Beach.

(News Journal Online - Feb 22, 2018)

Rhode Island: Korina Ferreira, 40, Charged with Animal Cruelty for the 2nd time after dead and live animals found suffering inside filthy home

RHODE ISLAND -- A woman faces 17 charges of unnecessary animal cruelty after authorities removed 17 dogs from a building in Woonsocket, where police also found 16 live chickens, a dead pig, a dead chicken and a dead bird, according to the Woonsocket police.

Korina Ferreira, 40, of 68 Etna St., Fall River, was charged after the police went to a house at 36 Cottage Street for a report of an animal problem and found the 17 dogs, including eight 3-week-old puppies, in a second-floor apartment with feces covering the floor and an overwhelming smell of urine, according to a police statement. 

The building had no running water or electricity.

Conditions in the building were “uninhabitable to animals or humans,” said E.J. Finocchio, president of the Rhode Island Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, which sent two investigators to the property. Finocchio said one of those investigators told him “it was the worst situation he has faced in the eight years he’s been doing animal cruelty investigations, and we’ve seen some bad ones.”

The police were called to the address at about 7 p.m. by a neighbor who’d reporting seeing “a dog on the roof of the property,” according to a statement from Woonsocket Patrol Officer Steven A. Langevin.

“Upon arrival I observed what appeared to be a barking dog on a landing directly outside a window on the second floor of 36 Cottage St.,” Langevin wrote.

The neighbor told the police she thought the building had been abandoned because she hadn’t seen anyone there for more than a year, and Langevin wrote that police dispatch informed him that the address was on the city’s vacant building list. He also found a notice from National Grid on the first-floor front door informing the second-floor occupants that the electricity had been shut off.

Walking around the residence, Langevin saw two dogs poking their heads out a second-floor window. He also saw evidence that somebody had been living there.

“As I looked into the windows of the first floor, I observed what appeared to be feces and massive amounts of clutter within the apartment,” he wrote. “I could clearly hear the sounds of multiple dogs barking from the second floor apartment.”

When nobody inside the house answered their calls, the police decided to enter the building because of their concern for the welfare of the animals. As they were trying to get inside, Ferreira arrived. She told the police that she “sometimes” lived on the second floor. She said her mother owned the property.

Ferreira entered the building with police officers. When Ferreira moved a refrigerator that had been blocking the living room, “approximately 7 dogs came running out of the living room, stampeding towards Police,” Langevin wrote. “The dogs appeared to be extremely dirty and covered in filth, urine and fecal matter,” Langevin wrote.

“I observed one dog bite into a gallon of water as it drank from it frantically,” Langevin wrote.

Most of the dogs appeared to be “pit bull-type” dogs, according to Finocchio.

Some of the dogs ran into the backyard, according to Woonsocket Sgt. Sean A. Carpenter.

“The dogs immediately started looking for water and started drinking from pools of water from various pieces of trash in the yard,” Carpenter said. He said some of the dogs appeared skinny, they did not have any apparent injuries.

According to Carpenter, Ferreira told the police that she’d been keeping her animals in the house since summer until she could find new housing for themr. She told the police she brought water to them nightly.

The dogs were taken to three different shelters — North Smithfield, Woonsocket and Warwick — according to Finocchio.

Ferreira was arrested late Thursday night and arraigned in District Court, Providence, on Friday morning, where she pleaded not guilty to the charges, which are all misdemeanors.

She was ordered held on $15,000 with surety and ordered to undergo pretrial services including mental health counseling. She is to have no contact with animals. It’s unclear whether she posted bonded.

REPEAT OFFENDER
Ferreira was sent to prison on previous animal cruelty charges. In that case, she was convicted of intentionally starving her American Bulldog named Pebbles.

What Pebbles looked like when seized

Pebbles, at a healthy weight

(Providence Journal - March 30, 2018)

Earlier:

• Rhode Island: Korina Ferreira sentenced to 1-1/2 years in jail for intentionally starving her dog

New Mexico: Twila Williams, 49, accused of starving her animals to death

NEW MEXICO -- A Portales woman was arrested Wednesday in connection with an August incident in which one horse was found dead and seven other animals were found severely malnourished in Curry County.

Twila Williams, 49, was booked into the Curry County Adult Detention Center just before 3 p.m. Wednesday after she was arrested in Portales. She is charged with one count of extreme cruelty to animals.

Records did not address bond information and it wasn't clear why she was arrested Wednesday, more than six months after the animals were seized.

Court records stated that the warrant for Williams' arrest filed on Nov. 16 stems from an August incident in which Curry County Sheriff's deputies responded to a call of two horses that escaped their enclosures near U.S. 60-84.

Deputies arrived to find the two horses, as well as a "severely decomposed" paint stud horse in the back of the property, records show.

Four horses and three donkeys, as well as the deceased stud horse, were found, and the water tank on the property was empty. One and a half bales of hay were also found.

Upon filling the water tank, the horses began "drinking the very hot water and fighting over who got to drink," according to the arrest affidavit.

Deputies stated that the animals were removed from the county, but Williams was unable to be found at the time.

Records show that when the arrest warrant was filed in November, the New Mexico Livestock Board submitted the findings of an exam conducted on the animals after they were seized in August by state brand inspectors.

The paperwork stated that six out of the seven animals "are moderately to severely underweight as evidence by their body condition score."

The charge is a fourth-degree felony, punishable by up to 18 months in jail and a $5,000 fine.

(Eastern New Mexico News - March 9, 2018)

Ohio: Tina Jackson charged with Animal Cruelty after dogs found starved to death, decapitated

OHIO -- The Butler County Sheriff’s Office Dog Wardens received information last week advising that there were several dead animals in the backyard of 1325 Oxford State Road in the City of Middletown.

Upon arrival, they observed a total of four deceased dogs. Two of the dogs were found in dog houses, another one was found in a black plastic tote, along with a decapitated dog’s head. 

The owner, Tina Marie Jackson, 39 year old female, stated she ran out of dog food and she never provided bedding in the dog houses to keep the dogs warm. She did not offer an explanation on the decapitated dog.

Officers had necropsies conducted on all four dogs, three were found to have no food in their stomachs and the cause of death was ruled starvation.

There could not be any determination on cause of death of the severed head due to lack of specimen.

“I am beside myself,” said Sheriff Jones. “Owning one animal and treating it like trash is appalling but this woman had four. I am disgusted that these poor animals suffered and I am glad Ms. Jackson is behind bars.”

The discovery also shocked Jackson’s neighbor, Victoria Sharp.

"We volunteer at a rescue so knowing that that could happen just two doors down really hurts and really affects me," Sharp told WCPO.

Jackson said the animal crates in her backyard were left over from when she helped her ex-husband board and breed dogs. Bowls caked in spaghetti show the last meals the dogs ate.

"I was feeding spaghetti and scraps, trying to feed what I had, you know?" Jackson said.  "I wasn't getting my income that I was supposed to be getting, and I was barely making it to even feed my kids."

Jackson’s neighbor, Victoria Sharp

Sharp said she got a look at Jackson’s dogs when they got loose and went into her yard.

"They didn't look like they were being malnourished or abused," Sharp said. Now, Sharp said, she regrets returning the dogs to Jackson.

"I can't put it into words … it hurts really, really bad knowing that we could have kept them here or found them homes," Sharp said.

One surviving dog is under the care of Joseph's Legacy Animal Rescue.

The only surviving dog

Ms. Jackson was arrested and charged with three counts of felony animal cruelty to companion animals. She was transported to the Middletown City Jail.

************

Bailed out of jail, Tina Marie Jackson didn’t have an explanation for the gruesome discovery of a decapitated dog in her backyard.

"How it happened I do not know, and the body … I don't know where it is," Jackson, 39, told WCPO after returning to her Oxford State Road home on Tuesday.

(Breaking911 - February 20, 2018)

New York: Reynaldo Bonilla, 40, accused of cockfighting, abusing animals

ISLIP, LONG ISLAND, NEW YORK -- Police searching for drugs at a home in New York discovered more than 60 caged roosters, a mistreated pit bull, a pheasant and equipment used to stage illegal cockfighting matches.

Officers called in the local Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and arrested 40-year-old Reynaldo Bonilla, who was to be arraigned on charges including animal cruelty.

The roosters were trained for cockfighting and will have to be euthanized, because they can't be rehabilitated and were likely injected with steroids and other chemicals, Suffolk County SPCA Chief Roy Gross said.

Why can dog fighting Pit Bulls supposedly be "rehabilitated", but a chicken can't? Answer: Pit Bull lobbyists.

Also stored on the property were a fighting ring, razor blade-like spurs that are attached to the roosters when they fight and "little boxing gloves" that protect the birds when they train, he said.

"The call it a blood sport," Gross said. Spectators who bet on the fights "want to see the birds cutting each other, seeing the blood, and generally they bleed out. It's barbaric. They generally fight to the death," he said.

Investigators haven't determined if fights were staged at the property, or if the birds were only being housed there in the hamlet of Brentwood on Long Island, he added.

The name of Bonilla's attorney wasn't immediately available. If convicted, he will be placed on an animal abuse registry that allows authorities to track his whereabouts.

(ABC7NY - February 11, 2018)

West Virginia: Christa Hughes is convicted of starving her dog nearly to death

WEST VIRGINIA -- Back in 2016, an emaciated two-year old Lab mix that was later named Fred was seized from Christa Hughes. 

Hughes claimed the dog lost weight because of illness, but she had no proof that she had taken the dog to a vet for needed medical care. Also, a vet who examined Fred after he had been seized found no evidence of the dog suffering any sickness -- he was merely being slowly starved to death. 

Hughes certainly hasn't missed any meals. Maybe her punishment should be that she be chained to a tree and starved until she looks like Fred?

Full Name: Christa Lynn Hughes
Gender: Female
Race: White
Height: 5'07"
Weight: 200 lbs
Birthdate: 12/07/1986
Arrest Age: 31
Date: 01/29/2018
Arresting Agency: Hancock County
Charges
#1 CRUELTY TO ANIMALS-1
NOTES: CM Convicted Misdemeanor

Earlier:

• West Virginia: Christa Hughes starved her Labrador nearly to death, say police
• West Virginia: Christa Hughes pleads not guilty to starving her dog nearly to death; dog slowly recovering

Alabama: Elois Inman charged with multiple counts of animal cruelty; starving and dead animals found

ALABAMA -- Complaints from citizens led animal control and sheriff’s deputies to the discovery of two dead horses and others in poor condition at a Waterloo residence Monday afternoon.

The owner, Elois Kathleen Inman, 61, 3975 Lauderdale 126, Waterloo, was charged with two counts of aggravated cruelty to animals, two counts of failure to dispose of bodies properly and three counts of cruelty to animals.

“It was pretty bad. The poor horses were in the woods trying to eat briar bushes,” said Lauderdale County Animal Control Officer Dewayne Oliver.

He said he had gotten a number of complaints on the animals' conditions and had been dealing with the owner since December.

Deputies removed six horses and 15 dogs from the residence.

Inman remains in the Lauderdale County Detention Center on bail totaling $7,000.

Note: Her name is also being spelled Eloise Inman.

(Times Daily - January 30, 2018)

United Kingdom: Disgusting couple walk out of court with NO jail time after subjecting animals to horrific conditions

UNITED KINGDOM -- A couple have been banned from keeping animals for a decade after a number of pets were found in ‘squalid’ conditions – surrounded by urine and human feces.

Robert Roy Rickman, 45, and Ceri Ann Rickman, 32, both of Parc Newydd, Briton Ferry, had both previously admitted causing unnecessary suffering to 15 domestic cats, and failing to take reasonable steps to ensure the needs of two dogs were met.

 

Those are bottles of urine

An RSPCA officer attended the property in June 2017, and found cats in a ‘horrendous’ condition roaming the filthy property. Two dogs – one brindle lurcher and a collie mix – were also living at the home.

The cats were “all riddled with fleas”, and many malnourished and with degrees of hair loss.

Mr Tarrant said when the RSPCA inspector left the house to take a breather from the “foul odour” inside, he found his trousers were “crawling with fleas”.

 

Human and animal feces was found across the property, urine was thrown into rooms in plastic bottles, mess was sprawled across the building and an overpowering smell was evident throughout.

ROBERT RICKMAN PREVIOUSLY CONVICTED OF ANIMAL CRUELTY
The court heard Robert, who had previously gone by the name Robert Ford, has a previous conviction from 1998 for causing unnecessary suffering to an animal under the old Protection of Animals Act 1911.

NO JAIL TIME FOR EITHER ANIMAL ABUSER
During sentencing at Swansea Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday, both were given a ten-year ban on keeping all animals and a community order. They were each told to pay costs of £300, in addition to a victim surcharge of £85.

Thankfully, after all animals were signed into the RSPCA’s care, they were rehabilitated and sent to animal centers across England and Wales for adoption.

 

 

 

RSPCA inspector Neill Manley said: "This was a thoroughly grim and hugely challenging case, in some of the worst conditions I have witnessed in my entire life.

"I arrived at the property on one of the hottest days of the year, and was shell-shocked at the squalid conditions in which animals were living.

"Cats roamed the house in a truly horrendous condition, while two dogs were clearly being kept in a wholly inappropriate environment. The property was totally infested with fleas, and a number of the cats had developed an allergic reaction which was not treated. It’s a timely reminder as to the importance of seeking veterinary attention in such situations as soon as possible.

 

 

"Across the house, there were plastic bottles or urine, plus cardboard boxes filled with feces and spread across the floors.

"The condition of the animals was absolutely heartbreaking, and it beggars all belief that anyone deemed it acceptable to keep animals in such filthy, squalid surroundings.

"Fortunately, the RSPCA’s intervention ensured all animals were signed into our care – and could go on for rehoming, and a second chance of happiness.

"That happy outcome is a reminder as to the exact reason why the RSPCA exists."

 

 

 

(Metro UK - February 1, 2018)

Connecticut: Jessica DePaolis had 19 dogs in her home; she's been arrested after an English Bulldog went on the attack

CONNECTICUT -- Police and firefighters had to pull off a dramatic rescue of two children and their aunt in October after their English Bulldog began attacking them, an arrest warrant said.

Now the owner of the bulldog, who had 20 dogs in her Fairview Street home, is facing charges including animal cruelty, risk of injury and reckless endangerment, as well as charges related to a Monday incident.

Police officers were called to 62 Fairview St., the home of Jessica DePaolis, on Oct. 23 after receiving a 911 call reporting that an English bulldog was attacking people and other dogs.

Officers found four people injured, including DePaolis’ 7- and 13-year-old children, her aunt and a neighbor who was trying to help.

The children and the aunt were hiding from the bulldog, which had just killed a Chihuahua, in a first-floor bedroom.

A fire department ladder had to be used to get the three out of the house.

DePaolis’s 7-year-old son’s injuries were so severe that he needed surgery, police said.

The Chihuahua killed by the bulldog had recently given birth to three puppies which were two weeks old, an arrest warrant said.

Officers found 20 dogs, including the male bulldog, which had gone on a rampage after DePaolis left for her job in New York that morning.

A judge agreed in November to give custody of the remaining 19 dogs to the city.

While responding to a domestic violence incident Monday, police served DePaolis with an arrest warrant charging her with 19 counts of animal cruelty, reckless endangerment and risk of injury to a child in connection with the October incident.

In connection with Monday’s incident, details of which are not being released, she has been charged with third-degree assault, disorderly conduct and risk of injury to a child, Lt. Jeanette Portalatin said.

This building has two addresses: 62 Fairview and 

64 Fairview. She had 20 dogs stuffed into this duplex.

DePaolis was released on $35,000 bond after her arraignment in New Britain Superior Court Tuesday.

In October, the dogs were living in what were described as squalid conditions, with feces and urine on the floor and in their cages. All had fleas, and some had other medical issues. At least one dog was emaciated, police said.

She had previously been cited for illegal breeding in March, police said.

DePaolis had nine Chihuahua puppies of varying ages, five adult bulldogs and six adult Chihuahuas living in the house.

The puppies that had lost their mother were given immediately to Monkey Pack Rescue, where they had to be bottle-fed every few hours, said Police Sgt. Paula Keller, who heads the city’s Animal Control Division.

The other six puppies and two of the adult Chihuahuas were also placed with the rescue organization, which is working on getting them vaccinated and spayed or neutered before they are placed in good homes. The bulldogs were also slated for adoption, Keller said in November.

She's been churning out puppies for years.

(NBC Connecticut -January 24, 2018)

Earlier:

• Connecticut: City given custody of dogs seized from breeder Jessica DePaolis