Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson did not respond to requests for comment, or when asked whether he’s asked the District Attorneys Association to submit a bill draft request seeking stricter penalties.
(Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
The public outcry for harsh punishment in the case of Reba, a bulldog who died of heat stroke days after she was found in a sealed tote behind a business in late July, has Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson calling for stiffer penalties for animal abusers. But a review of animal abuse and neglect cases prosecuted by Wolfson indicates his office rarely seeks to imprison offenders.
“In the last few days, I’ve literally received hundreds of emails from Nevadans, actually from people all over the world… urging justice on behalf of Reba,” Wolfson told reporters Tuesday, complaining that under current law, prosecutors can only seek to imprison offenders for up to four years. “As prosecutors, we can only file charges that our lawmakers provide for us.”
Wolfson suggested a sentence of one to ten years may be more appropriate.
“I’m going to urge all Nevadans to reach out to their lawmakers,” he said. “That’s what they’re there for. Urge them to consider a bill to increase the penalties for animal cruelty.”
Yet Wolfson’s prosecutors routinely agree to probation rather than arguing for prison time, according to the Current’s review of felony animal abuse cases submitted to the DA since 2023, even for egregious abuse such as that suffered by Reba.
“We’re calling bullshit on the DA and all the sweetheart deals,” says Gina Greisen, founder of Nevada Voters for Animals. “We’ve been saying this for years about the slaps on the wrist. After successfully completing probation, the charge falls back down to a misdemeanor.”
Wolfson did not respond to requests for comment, or when asked whether he’s asked the District Attorneys Association to submit a bill draft request seeking stricter penalties.
In 2011, when Nevada was the only state where a first- or second-time offender could not be charged with a felony, regardless of the severity of the animal abuse, Greisen helped to author Cooney’s Law, a Nevada measure named for a dog who was tortured and killed by its owner with a box cutter. The law allows prosecutors to charge a first-time offender with a felony.
Wolfson’s proclamation that the punishment the state can impose on Reba’s killer or killers (police arrested suspects Isaac Laushaul Jr. and Markeisha Foster this weekend) doesn’t fit the crime rings hollow to Greisen, given the suspended sentences issued in recent cases.
“There are plenty of shortcomings with the government’s treatment of abused animals, but the law isn’t one of them,” she said during an interview Tuesday. “It needs to be enforced.”
Washington resident Wayne Leonard Johnson took his dog Kea into the Southern Nevada desert in March of 2023, bashed her skull in with a hammer, stabbed her, and slit her throat twice before leaving her to die. The dog, discovered by an individual who thought it had been attacked by animals, was alive but had to be euthanized.
“Both parties stipulate to nineteen (19) to forty-eight (48) month suspended sentence,” reads the guilty plea agreement in Johnson’s case, signed last December by Wolfson. “Upon successful completion of probation, Johnson can withdraw his plea and enter a guilty plea on a misdemeanor charge.”
In Oct. 2023, Las Vegan James Koh attempted to kill a puppy by twisting its legs and strangling it, a gross misdemeanor. Wolfson’s office agreed to probation, Koh entered a guilty plea, agreed to stay away from animals. and received a suspended sentence.
Rechelle Ruegner “willfully and maliciously” shot a dog on New Year’s Eve 2022, a felony punishable by 1 to 4 years in prison. Ruegner’s sentence of 14 to 38 months was suspended in favor of probation. The terms of her probation included no prohibition on owning an animal. Last month, Ruegner’s felony conviction was reduced to a misdemeanor after she successfully completed the terms of her probation.
The Current reviewed files of 106 animal abuse cases submitted to the DA for prosecution in 2023 and through late September of 2024. 47 cases remain open.
Of 13 adjudicated felony cases with no underlying crime against a human, only two defendants received prison time.
Tiffany Chyrell Washington agreed to plead guilty to felony attempted cruelty to an animal with parole eligibility after 12 months of a 48 month sentence.
Washington attempted to drown a week-old kitten, which died.
Michael E. Cardona punched and kicked a dog named Nala to death and was sentenced to a maximum of four years in prison. Wolfson agreed to probation, according to court documents. However, Judge Carli Kierney required Cardona serve a minimum of 14 months before being eligible for parole.
“The best we could ever get on animal cruelty is going to be four years. Do we get that on every animal cruelty case? No. Is the state asking for that on every animal cruelty case? The answer clearly is no,” says Las Vegas Justice Court Hearing Master Amy Ferreira. As a prosecutor, she headed up Clark County’s animal abuse and neglect unit. “I can tell you a number of cases where people went to prison for animal cruelty when I was there. What has happened since I left, I can’t say.”
Justice denied?
Animal abuse cases don’t get the attention they require from authorities, says Greisen, who contends protocols used to investigate crimes against human victims are rarely employed when investigating crimes against animals.
Reports of tortured dead or injured animals are common in Southern Nevada. The lack of trained experts to gather evidence, coupled with a lack of authority to do so in some situations, leaves the public concerned that animal abuse cases are getting short shrift.
Ferreira agrees. “I just don’t think that they’re getting the same attention that they used to get.”
“This is not all right,” says Lynn Whatford, a Clark County resident who cares for community cats. Whatford spent much of the last year seeking justice for a colony of two dozen cats she says disappeared one by one. She suspects her neighbor killed them.
“Animal Control told me I needed proof, yet the officer couldn’t access my neighbor’s property to get the proof. Animal Control referred me to Metro, but the detective wouldn’t do anything until I had proof,” she said during an interview in September.
In late July, Whatford obtained proof in the form of a cat that roasted to death in a trap set in her neighbor’s backyard. The animal control officer retrieved the dead cat but left the trap – potentially evidence – behind.
The necropsy (an autopsy for animals), performed by Dr.Farida Varias at Hearts Alive Clinic at the request of Clark County Animal Control, determined the 3-5 year-old female “appears to have been a healthy adult cat prior to her death.”
Varian noted “it is clear (the cat) experienced extreme physical suffering in an inescapable situation, and that heat stroke is the likely cause of death in this case,” noting the National Weather Service reported a high of 114 degrees in Las Vegas on July 25, the day the cat likely died.
Whatford says she learned on Thanksgiving eve that the DA’s office declined to prosecute for lack of evidence.
“I see those people on TV demanding justice for Reba, and I think ‘good luck.’”, Whatford told the Current. “I have nothing to lose by calling the DA’s office, and just saying, ‘I’m not okay with your answer.’”
As a prosecutor, Ferreira says she argued for a dedicated unit “because animal control officers and law enforcement had to be able to properly investigate these cases. Animal control officers don’t have the right to go on to property in certain situations. They haven’t been trained on how to perform an investigation, or how to conduct interviews.”
The county, at the time, even lacked a place to store evidence. “How can you move forward with a criminal case when you can’t preserve the evidence? We found a broom closet at Animal Control and put a padlock on it.”
Since the creation of the DA’s animal abuse unit in 2015, prosecutors and Animal Control are working together, Ferreira says, adding it was previously “unheard of. Has working together solved all of the issues? Absolutely not. I think it would be ridiculous to say that there are no problems or concerns left when it comes to prosecuting animal cruelty cases. We could give example after example of issues related to these particular investigations.”
Animal abuse laws, Ferreira notes, have not been around as long as laws governing crime against humans. “There’s still a lot of good, important work to be done, and there are changes that we can make that will better satisfy the community that we’re handling these cases appropriately.”
Would changing the law help, or do prosecutors need to be more aggressive in arguing for prison time?
“I think the answer is both,” she says, noting the only current exception to a four-year maximum sentence is in cases where animal cruelty is performed to threaten or terrorize another human being, in which case the maximum penalty is five years.
Granting limited police powers to animal control officers, while helpful, would likely require a different kind of applicant for the job – one with law enforcement training.
“In theory, a lot of people apply for an animal control position because they love animals, and they have no interest in doin anything like arresting somebody,” she said.
Of the 106 cases reviewed by the Current, 33 involved an underlying felony crime, such as domestic violence, child abuse, or murder, against a human victim.
Research indicates a strong link between animal abuse and violent crime.
The FBI’s Law Enforcement Bulletin cites a study that found “16% of offenders started abusing animals and graduated to violent crimes against humans. However, in many circumstances, offenders start by hurting other humans and then progress to harming animals.”
Three-quarters of abused women with domestic animals reported their partners threatened or intentionally harmed the animal, with children witnessing the violence 9 times out of 10.
Activists suggest a greater emphasis on prosecuting animal abuse could assist law enforcement in reducing violent crime.