BY DAN HILDEBRAN
A Brooker woman was sentenced to 270 days in jail and three years’ probation after pleading to allowing her dog to kill a neighbor’s pet.
Mary Catherine Holton, 43, was ordered to undergo a mental health evaluation and adhere to any treatment as a result of the assessment. She was also ordered to pay the victim $1,170 in restitution.
Bradford deputies arrested the defendant on November 13, 2024, for aggravated animal cruelty.
According to an arrest report, the victim arrived home on the evening of Thursday, November 7, to find her small maltipoo dog “Tuxedo” dead in a pool of blood.
Surveillance video, witnesses in the victim’s neighborhood, and the victim’s description of her previous encounter with Holton led officers to the 43-year-old.
The victim told deputies that the day before she discovered her deceased pet, she was attempting to turn her vehicle around in her driveway, and a woman, later identified as Holton, was walking what she described as a brown boxer in the driveway.
A deputy wrote in a report that after the victim asked the woman to leave her property, the “woman angrily yelled back before leaving.”
According to court papers, when deputies questioned Holton about the maltipoo’s death, she told them she was walking near the victim’s home with her dog when God told her to enter the victim’s RV.
“Holton stated that upon entering, the brown and tan dog attacked the victim’s dog,” wrote a deputy in an arrest report. “Holton stated that she did not know if the dog died or not and left.”
