Animal Cruelty Charges Filed Against Muldrow Woman

Conditions inside the abandoned trailer where 

the dogs were left for nine months.

Formal animal cruelty charges have been filed against a Muldrow woman who allegedly left nine dogs to fend for themselves for nine months in an abandoned, filthy trailer home.

Records show Shiela J Smith, 50, was charged Aug. 21 after Sequoyah County Sheriff’s deputies and Randy Freeman, the county’s animal control officer, found nine rat terriers inside the trailer in rural Muldrow on Aug. 3. 

In a story we brought you last week, a person who lives near the abandoned trailer had alerted law enforcement officials about the situation. When they arrived at the scene, deputies and Freeman found that the floor of the home was littered with feces.

The smell inside the trailer was “indescribable,” the deputy wrote in his report. Freeman’s wife, Ro Freeman, said last week that the squalid conditions inside the trailer were the worst she has ever seen. No windows were open in the home, the report indicates, and the electricity had been cut off. The temperature inside the trailer was 111 degrees.

On Aug. 5, officials received a judge’s order allowing them to pick up the animals, which were in surprisingly good condition. Someone had apparently been coming by regularly to feed them, Ro Freeman said.

The neighbor told law enforcement that the man who had lived in the residence died about two years ago, adding that Smith, the man’s girlfriend, had left the home about nine months ago.

Officials rounded up the nine rat terriers, but were unable to capture two other dogs outside the home.

The felony charge is punishable by a fine of up to $5,000, imprisonment for up to five years, or both.

Smith’s bond has been set at $5,000.

Laura Brown, KXMX Staff Writer

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