54-year-old Deborah Sue Culwell has been sentenced to one year in jail after she was caught dumping seven puppies in a recycling bin.
Culwell pleaded guilty to seven counts of felony animal cruelty counts and misdemeanor animal abandonment.
According to The Desert Sun, she was sentenced to 365 days in jail. However, 90 of those days will be done through a work release.
She will then be on probation for 7 years and will be prohibited from possessing animals.
Riverside County Superior Judge Harold Hopp called the case ‘pretty severe’ and agreed to the terms of her plea.
It was on April 22 when Culwell was arrested after CCTV footage from Napa Auto Parts caught her throwing seven 3-day-old puppies into a recycling bin. One of the dogs died because of her negligence.
The clip showed the woman drove a white vehicle to the place and put puppies inside a large plastic bag. She then tossed the animals into a bin and drove away.
The poor puppies were left in the sweltering 90F heat for more than an hour before a Good Samaritan heard the puppies and managed to rescue them.
23-year-old Jazzy Espino, a store employee, was there when the incident happened. She said to Daily Mail: “The dumpster is on the side of our store, no one ever goes back there. If it wasn’t for the homeless guy digging through the trash minutes later, they wouldn’t have been found.”
Employees of the store took the puppies inside and placed them in a box.
“The puppies were really wet and sweating because they were so hot. They were crying and biting on our fingers because they were just so hungry. We were my holding the puppies to give them comfort,” Espino said.
“It’s heart-breaking, she needs to like get a jail. I’m so glad she was caught because they found 40 more dogs in her house,” she added.
Officers arrived at Culwell’s home and found 38 dogs more that needed to be rescued.
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