A St. Stephens Church woman was convicted of animal cruelty in King and Queen County General District Court on Friday.
Candice Jones Wheat, 39, was convicted of one misdemeanor count of animal cruelty, according to online court records.
The charge was amended from a felony to a misdemeanor and the Commonwealth Attorney’s office dropped 32 charges against Wheat for failing to vaccinate and license dogs at her Owens Mill Road home, according to online court records.
King and Queen County Commonwealth Attorney Charles Adkins said he couldn’t comment about the case specifically, but generally prosecutor will drop less severe charges against a person in order to attain guilty verdicts for more severe charges.
King and Queen County Sheriff’s Office deputies found 15 dogs and 12 puppies, all Great Danes, in the house without water and with little food on Aug. 27, according to court testimony from King and Queen County Sheriff’s Office deputy Brian Burr. Deputies found five more Great Danes in a hot, poorly ventilated camper. The dogs and the camper were covered in feces, and there was no food or water.
King William Regional Animal Shelter manager Lauri Betts testified at the civil forfeiture hearing in the case that one of the dogs was nothing but “skin hanging off bone.”
Wheat and her partner Richard A. Awlasewicz agreed to forfeit 30 of the 32 dogs at the civil forfeiture hearing on Sept. 20. Adkins said the couple never appealed the case so the remaining two dogs have been forfeited. Neither are allowed to own or possess animals.
As a result of her conviction at the criminal trial on Friday, Wheat was sentenced to 12 months in jail with all but four days suspended, according to online court records. She was ordered to pay court costs of $571 by March 26, 2020.
