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Last updated on Monday, May 19, 2014
(PAOLI) - Laura J. King has been arrested in Louisville on 20 counts of cruelty to an animal in connection with a case involving the removal of those poodles from a home east of Paoli on May 8.
Orange County Sheriff Richard Dixon said King likely will be returned to Orange County on Monday.
The Orange County Sheriff's Department received a notification from a local utility crew about dogs being confined in an abandoned home on U.S. 150 near Tater Road.
Veterinarian Dr. Bill McDonald was called to the scene. He found two dogs that were suffering from maggot infestations and took them to his office for treatment. The remaining dogs, all of which were covered in their own waste, were taken to the Orange County animal shelter in Paoli. One of the dogs died the night the animals were found.
According to those on the scene, the dogs were found standing in 2 to 3 inches of feces and someone had been feeding the dogs, but only enough for them to be kept alive and the food had been dumped in the dogs' crates in the dog's waste
40-year-old King is the owner of the property and works as a vet technician at Metropolitan Veterinary Specialist in Louisville.
Donna Medley, the office manager, was unavailable to answer questions Saturday morning, but has released a statement about King. The statement, published on the website for WDRB TV in Louisville reads as follows:
"We became aware of a ... news story about animal cruelty ... and are very disturbed to learn that the cruelty and neglect of the animals occurred at the home of Laura King, one of our employees. We knew Ms. King was a breeder of poodles, but no one associated with our clinic has ever been to her home in Paoli.
"Ms. King worked in the evening as a treatment nurse and left a message on Monday that there was a family emergency and she would not be back to work until the end of the week. An employee has tried unsuccessfully to call her since then to see how she was doing, but she has not yet responded to any of their voicemails."
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