Benton Woman Arrested for Animal Cruelty after Dog and Cats Found Abandoned in Cages
By: KARK 4 News
Updated: November 2, 2012
A Benton woman has been arrested on animal cruelty charges after police find a number of dogs and cats abandoned in cages.
The discovery on Halloween came during a search for escaped Arkansas prison inmate Curtis Reese, formerly of Benton. (Reese was caught the next day in Pangburn).
Officers searching an area along Latimer Drive came upon the home, which they said had no electricity and no one living there.
Upon serving a search warrant they found the caged animals stacked all throughout the home, with some of them dead or in very poor condition. There were no utilities at the home to provide heat or air conditioning, and they were covered in waste. Additionally, there was no evidence they had been given any food or water recently, police said.
Today, detectives were able to make contact with the homeowner, Dorothy Braithwaite, 48, who was arrested on 23 counts of felony animal cruelty and taken to jail.
The animals were taken to the Benton Animal Control facility for care.
Anyone with information about this incident is urged to call the Benton Police Department at (501) 778-1171 or (501) 315-TIPS. Anonymous crime tips may also be texted to CRIMES (274637) with the keyword BNPD in the body of the text.
The discovery on Halloween came during a search for escaped Arkansas prison inmate Curtis Reese, formerly of Benton. (Reese was caught the next day in Pangburn).
Officers searching an area along Latimer Drive came upon the home, which they said had no electricity and no one living there.
Upon serving a search warrant they found the caged animals stacked all throughout the home, with some of them dead or in very poor condition. There were no utilities at the home to provide heat or air conditioning, and they were covered in waste. Additionally, there was no evidence they had been given any food or water recently, police said.
Today, detectives were able to make contact with the homeowner, Dorothy Braithwaite, 48, who was arrested on 23 counts of felony animal cruelty and taken to jail.
The animals were taken to the Benton Animal Control facility for care.
Anyone with information about this incident is urged to call the Benton Police Department at (501) 778-1171 or (501) 315-TIPS. Anonymous crime tips may also be texted to CRIMES (274637) with the keyword BNPD in the body of the text.
