A 40-year-old Malta woman was sentenced today to six months in the Saratoga County jail and five years’ probation for allowing a female pit bull to starve to death.
Shayna Tabachneck, of the Malta Gardens mobile-home complex, was sentenced by Saratoga County Court Judge James A. Murphy III after earlier pleading guilty to aggravated cruelty to animals, or what is more commonly known as “Buster’s Law.”
District Attorney James A. Murphy III said Tabachneck admitted she “intentionally caused serious physical injury to Fendy, a female pit bull,” with no justifiable purpose.
The charge involving Fendy resolved a case in which other dogs were found dead on Tabachneck’s property.
The woman was arrested last July after state police discovered three dead dogs on her property and animal feces and urine throughout her home.
State police began investigating the property after neighbors detected a strong odor coming from the home and reported the “suspicious disappearance” of dogs and cats that typically had been seen outside the home.
State troopers conducted a search and found two dead dogs in garbage bags in a shed behind the home. Further investigation enabled them to discover a dead dog in a bedroom at the home, an emaciated young pit bull, and five cats.
Reach Gazette reporter Stephen Williams at 395-3086, [email protected] or @gazettesteve on Twitter.
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Categories: News, Schenectady County
