Coachella woman caught on CCTV dumping seven newborn puppies in trash bin sentenced to 365 days in prison
A Southern California woman who was caught on surveillance camera dumping seven three-day-old puppies into a recycling bin has been sentenced to 365 days in jail after she pleaded guilty to all her charges.
Deborah Sue Culwell, 59, was arrested on April 22 this year after she was identified as the woman in the footage, which circulated like wildfire on social media, according to the Palm Springs Desert Sun.
In the footage, which was captured outside the NAPA Auto Parts store at 49-251 Grapefruit Boulevard, Coachella, just after 1 pm on April 18, a Jeep can be seen driving up to a recycling bin nearby.
A woman sporting a ponytail and a short skirt can be seen exiting the Jeep and dumping a sealed bag in the bin.
Luckily, a passerby identified only as 'John' looked through the bin within minutes after hearing squealings. He found the bag and realized it contained seven very young puppies and took it into the air-conditioned auto parts store, from where they were turned over to the authorities.
Speaking about the case, Department of Animal Services spokesman John Welsh said that the puppies would not have survived very long in the bin because the temperatures that day had soared into the 90s.
The puppies were taken to a foster rescue home, where one of them, which was reportedly the runt of the litter, died a week later. The rest were featured on a national television show with the goal of getting them adopted.
After Culwell's arrest, authorities rescued another 38 dogs from her home and prepared for adoption after she relinquished ownership.
This past Wednesday, August 14, Culwell struck a plea deal that saw her plead guilty to seven felony animal cruelty counts and seven misdemeanor animal abandonment charges in exchange for a lighter sentence.
Riverside County Superior Court Judge Harold Hopp, the same judge responsible for increasing her bail from $10,000 to $50,000 after her initial arrest, said the circumstances surrounding the case were "pretty severe" but ultimately accepted the plea deal.
Culwell was sentenced to 365 days behind bars, reduced to 174 days with credit for time served. Furthermore, 90 of those days will be under a work release.
Hopp also ordered for her to be on probation for seven years and prohibited her from possessing animals.
Janeen Bahr, president of the nonprofit Society’s OutKasts Animal Rescue, expressed her disappointment with the verdict.
"I think we were a little sad that she didn’t get more than a year of jail time," she said. "But on the other hand, when you look at what’s going on in the world today and the penal system, we’re probably lucky we got any jail time at all."