Attorneys/Judges
| Judge(s): | Jeanne E. LaFazia |
Dogs abandoned in home, muzzles taped
Johnston, RI (US)Incident Date: Friday, Oct 3, 2008
County: Providence
Disposition: Alleged
Alleged: Diana Tetrault
Case Updates: 1 update(s) available
According to police, Diana Tetrault, 20, muzzled her two pit bulls with tape and left them in her apartment without food or water last week.
Neighbors called animal control after they heard the dogs whimpering inside the apartment, said Johnston Police Major Ralph Bubar, III. They told officers they hadn't seen anyone visit Tetrault's Osgood Avenue apartment for two days.
Upon arriving, officers found two pit bulls, their mouths taped up, and no one home. After some investigating, the dogs' owner was found at the hospital, having just given birth to a baby boy. Police say she had taped the dogs up to keep them from barking before going to the hospital.
Tetrault is charged with two counts of animal cruelty and is schedule to appear in District Court in Warwick Wednesday morning.
Case UpdatesA 20-year-old woman pleaded not guilty to animal cruelty charges after authorities accused her of muzzling her two pit bulls and abandoning them in an apartment before she went to a hospital to give birth.
Judge Jeanne E. LaFazia in District Court, Warwick, ordered Diana Tetrault to have a mental-health screening and released her on $2,000 personal recognizance, according to a clerk.
Tetrault is scheduled to return to District Court on Oct. 24 for a pretrial conference.
Johnston's animal control officer found one of the pit bulls leashed to a closet door in Tetrault's second-floor apartment on Sept. 26, according to police Maj. Ralph Bubar III. At the time Tetrault was in Women & Infants Hospital after having given birth.
The other pit bull was caged in the kitchen at 28 Osgood Ave., he said. Neither animal had food or water, he said.
At the time, residents in the apartment house said they hadn't seen anyone visit the second-floor apartment since the morning of Sept. 23.
The two dogs remain in the custody of the Johnston Police Department, which placed them at the Providence Animal Rescue League.
The Department of Children Youth and Families received notification of Tetrault's arrest and the alleged abuse. | Source: The Providence Journal - Oct 9, 2008
Update posted on Oct 11, 2008 - 3:00AM |
References« RI State Animal Cruelty Map
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