Warning: This story contains references to animal cruelty that some readers might find disturbing.
WOODVILLE – Ashley Dawn McFadden, a Colmesneil resident who was charged in a large-scale animal cruelty case, pleaded guilty last week in Tyler County District Court.
McFadden entered the guilty plea on three counts of felony cruelty to non-livestock animals, as well as three misdemeanor counts of the same charge, and was subsequently sentenced to five years in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice and 161 days in the Tyler County Jail for the three misdemeanor charges.
Additionally, according to Tyler County District Attorney Brooke Koi, McFadden will not be allowed to possess a living animal for five years after her sentence is completed.
McFadden, 27, was arrested in early March of this year after an investigation, conducted in part by investigator Donald Calhoon IV, with the DA’s office, turned up more than 100 deceased dogs, and the seizure and removal of 87 dogs from her property.
At that time, McFadden had been out of jail on bond from a February arrest, for which she was charged with animal cruelty. One of her bond conditions was that all the dogs were to be removed and rehomed to a licensed rescue/adoption agency within 21 days. When Sheriff Bryan Weatherford walked her property on March 9, they documented several dogs in kennels, showing signs of obvious neglect, and smelled what they discovered was a dog’s carcass, which was enough for Pct. 1 Justice of the Peace Tina Self to grant the investigators’ request for a seizure order.
At that time, Sheriff Weatherford told the Booster that the conditions inside the house were “an obvious danger,” and noted that “dog waste was in every room, inside and outside the kennels.”
McFadden, who had been taking in dogs to her property under the auspices of “SETX Paw Patrol,” which she promoted as a rescue organization, was arrested along with her partner Timothy Carles “TC” Brockman, a 28-year-old Village Mills man. Brockman has been in custody in Angelina County due to overflow in the Tyler County Jail, and is scheduled for the Sept. 1 docket in district court for his two felony cruelty charges. Brockman is also being held on a past burglary charge with a motion to adjudicate.
McFadden was represented by court-appointed attorney William Lee Hon, and has remained in custody since her March 12 arrest. Koi noted that several agencies, including the Tyler County Sheriff’s Office and some rescue agencies in the area assisted with the rescue and rehoming of the surviving dogs.
Koi spotlighted the Who Saved Who; Choppers Rescue, Inc.; Green Mile; Lotta Dogs and Pct. 3 Commissioner Mike Marshall for all of their help with the investigation and rescue.
