UTICA — A 30-year-old Utica woman has been charged with aggravated abuse to an animal after police say she locked a dog in a crate inside a closet and sealed the door with spray foam before moving out of her apartment.
Anaiya Harris was charged June 5 following an investigation by the Utica Police Department’s Criminal Investigations Division.
Police were dispatched to a residence on the 600 block of Lenox Avenue regarding an animal cruelty complaint.
The landlord reported finding a deceased dog inside a crate in the apartment.
The landlord told police the previous tenant had vacated the apartment several weeks prior.
When the landlord entered the apartment to clean and prepare it for another tenant, he discovered the dog had been locked in a cage inside a closet.
Police said the closet door had been locked and sealed with spray foam.
The case was assigned to a member of the Criminal Investigations Division due to the circumstances of the incident.
