Woman Faces Animal Cruelty Charges After Dead Dog Found Restrained in Yard

WINNSBORO – A Winnsboro woman was cited with two counts of cruelty to animals last week after a Fairfield County Sheriff’s deputy discovered one dead dog and a second dog in only slightly better condition tied up in the yard of a home on Doty Road Extension.

Roas Laqunna Vesselles, 27, was issued the citations on Jan. 28 and the surviving dog, along with the remains of the deceased animal, were removed from the premises by Fairfield County Animal Control officers.

According to the incident report, a Sheriff’s deputy was patrolling the area on Jan. 28 when, at approximately 10:45 a.m., she “saw what appeared to be a very frail” dog lying motionless in the yard of the home. After knocking on the door of the home for several minutes and receiving no answer, the deputy walked to the back yard and found the dog to be deceased, still tied to a chain, which was attached to a post stuck into the ground.

“There was no shelter for the dog,” the report states, “very little food and no water.”

A second dog was found on the far side of the home. The dog, while still alive, was “very thin, poor (and) malnourished,” the report states. The dog was also tied to a chain that was attached to a post in the ground, surrounded by trash and his own feces, and also had “no water, very little food and no shelter. The dog was so weak it could barely stand.”

Vesselles will face a Magistrate’s Court judge to answer the charges at 2 p.m., Feb. 11.

Phone calls to Animal Control to determine the current condition of the surviving dog were not returned at press time.

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