CHANDLER, AZ — More than two years after dozens of dogs were removed from a "house of horrors," a Chandler woman was sentenced to more than three years behind bars and probation for animal cruelty and fraud charges she had faced.
April McLaughlin had pleaded guilty to four charges she had faced, including animal cruelty and fraud.
A three-and-a-half-year sentence was imposed for fraud charges involving her mother, along with a two-year sentence for the animal cruelty charges.
Those sentences will run concurrently, and she will receive credit for just over two years she has already served behind bars.
McLaughlin was also sentenced to seven years of probation for the animal cruelty charges, and she is no longer allowed to own animals.
The investigation began in September of 2023 when authorities received multiple reports of a home near Cooper and Pecos roads in Chandler about an animal rescue where the pets were living in deplorable conditions.
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A search warrant for the home was eventually obtained after a veterinarian that McLaughlin took some of the dogs to provided their records to police, showing some of the dogs needed "more immediate follow-up due to the severity of their injuries."
An estimated 55 dogs were removed from the home on September 22, 2023, about two weeks after police had started receiving reports about the conditions at the home.
Some dead dogs were found in freezers at the home, and other dogs rescued had to be euthanized because of their poor health.
See ABC15's previous coverage of the case in the main video player.
The Arizona Humane Society took custody of the dogs, and eventually, many of the dogs were reunited with their former rescues.
The case eventually drove the Chandler City Council to take action.
A few months later, they passed changes to their city ordinances involving animal cruelty.
Among those changes were definitions of cruelty, neglect, and hoarding. It also gave Chandler officers the right to immediately seize animals if they determined that the pets in a home were in "imminent danger."
“We want to make sure animals are protected in our community, and, again, this will give us better tools to do that,” Chandler Mayor Kevin Hartke told ABC15 after the meeting in December 2023.
The case also led to the signing of SB 1658, an animal welfare bill that specifies basic care for domestic animals.
SB 1658 was nicknamed “Jerry’s Law,” named after a dog named Jerry, who survived the large-scale animal abuse case in Chandler.
