New York: A 59-year-old woman in the US has been sentenced to 365 days in a jail after she pleaded guilty to dumping seven puppies into a trash can, according to a media report. Deborah Culwell was caught on a security camera dumping the 3-day-old puppies in the trash in Coachella, California, CBS News reported. A judge sentenced Culwell to 365 days in the county jail.
She previously pleaded not guilty, but changed her plea in court on Wednesday. She pleaded guilty to 14 counts of animal cruelty and animal abandonment, the report said. Culwell will spend 275 days of her sentence in custody and 90 days on a work release, the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office told CBS News on Thursday.
She also faces seven years of formal probation after her release. She will also be prohibited from owning any animals during her probation period.
In April, Culwell was caught on the camera tossing seven newborn puppies into a dumpster in the Coachella Valley. The video showed that, she walked out of her car and tossed the plastic bag containing the 3-day-old terrier mixes into the dustbin and drove off, Riverside County Animal Services said at the time.
If the puppies were not found as quickly as they were, the puppies would not have survived much longer in the 90-degree heat, animal services said.
However, the Associated Press has reported that one of the puppies died. (PTI)
