Teacher charged with felonies in deaths of two cats

[Honey]

Allison Dinsmore (Palm Beach County School District / March 20, 2009)


Two cats suffered so cruelly before dying, prosecutors say, that they decided to charge a Palm Beach County teacher with two felonies Monday.
Police initially accused Allison Dinsmore, 26, of misdemeanor animal cruelty this month when her two cats' wasted corpses were found in her Boca Raton apartment.
Investigators said the Congress Middle School teacher's cats clawed up the apartment in a frantic search for food as they starved for up to a month before they died. The corpses then rotted in the filthy apartment about a month before an apartment manager found them.
Prosecutors upped the charges to two counts of felony cruelty to animals, saying her actions caused "excessive or repeated infliction of unnecessary pain or suffering." The new charges each carry a maximum penalty of up to five years in prison.

Mike Edmondson, spokesman for the Palm Beach County State Attorney's Office, said the agency would not elaborate on why the charges were upgraded.
Efforts to contact Dinsmore on Monday were unsuccessful despite phone calls and messages to the number listed on the crime report. A phone message and an e-mail to her Miami-based attorney, Jordan Lewin, weren't returned.
Dinsmore told police in February that she had been working long hours at her school and spent a lot of time at her boyfriend's house. Police said she also went on a family camping trip while the cats starved.
She said she couldn't remember the last time she had been home, but thought she had left food and water for her cats.
Dinsmore is not teaching this week because schools are closed for Spring Break, school district spokeswoman Vickie Middlebrooks said. She couldn't say whether Dinsmore would be permitted to return to the Boynton Beach middle school when classes resume.
"The school district will open up a personnel investigation based on the state attorney's action," Middlebrooks said. "The district will examine all of the facts."
Dinsmore has worked at Congress Middle since August 2007 and has a clean employment record, according to the district. Her salary is listed as $36,100.
The two cats were found dead Feb. 23 by a manager at Boca Sol apartments. Police said Dinsmore hadn't paid rent, and a manger went to her home to talk to her and check out the apartment. The manager found the two dead cats, signs of a frenzied search for food and water, and feces and urine everywhere, according to police.
The smell was so bad, an officer had to cover his mouth with a rag when he first went inside, the report said.
A necropsy determined the cats suffered neglect for weeks or months before dying a slow, painful death from starvation and dehydration.

Teacher charged with felonies in deaths of two cats in Boca Raton apartment -- South Florida Sun-Sentinel.com

[Brookie]

People like that should be subjected to the same treatment.

[msdeb]

oh just what the district needs, this idiot teaching children.

[Daphne]

It breaks my heart how cruel people can be. I hope this cunt gets hers in prison.

[Mivvi21]

They should starve this bitch to death so she can see just what it's like to waste away to nothing and die. Cunt.

[McJag]

There is no hope for this woman.

[Icepik]

I don't know why, but animal cruelty stories cause me so much anguish. How can anyone abuse and torture a family pet (member, as far as I'm concerned). I have 4 cats and I can't even imagine letting them go one day without food, let alone doing what she's done.

[ManxMouse]

Just like O.J.'s girlfriend left her animal(s) behind to starve to death. Why wasn't that bitch charged??

[Quazar]

Those poor babies. I hope they forget to feed and give her water in jail.

[Sweetie]

Oh, the damage I could do to that bitch if they would just give me 2 minutes alone with her.

I just don't understand why people want animals and then refuse to take care of them.

[KrisNine]

Just like O.J.'s girlfriend left her animal(s) behind to starve to death. Why wasn't that bitch charged??

Yep...I remember that. It was in Boca as well, huh?

Glad to see the use of the word cunt flying freely in here, because that's the first word that popped into my head when I saw her fucking face.

She should not be in control of the little minds of the world.

Rot in Hell, whorebag.

[Kittylady]

I agree with everything that has been said. I have cats and there have been some hard times lately where my housemate and I were living off beans on toast in the two days until payday - BUT we have never been without food for the cats. Hell, when we go shopping the first aisle we go to is the petfood one. There is no damn excuse for this thing (I won't even grant it the dignity of acknowledging it as a human) to allow this to happen.

[swwave]

She knew they would be out of food, didn't stop in to check on them or fill a food dish, too self absorbed and cared only about her love life and own needs, selfish and unforgivable. The bright side is someone found the cats and have evidence so that she will be charged with something hopefully big jail time.

[Rondette]

I have 4 cats and I can't even imagine letting them go one day without food, let alone doing what she's done.

I have one cat and I can't even imagine her letting herself go for one day without food! Bitch would cut me!

Those poor fur-babies. I hope they're well fed in cat-valhalla!

[maryk]

How sad... and disgusting! I mean how could you live like that? I could go weeks without feeding one of the cats he eats the meat off of animals he kills I swear he'll take down a deer one day if he hasn't, but I still do feed fatty or he'd whine.