Pennsylvania County Official Faces Felony Animal Cruelty Charges

April Sloane, Washington County Controller, is under fire after her dog Thor was found starved to death; residents call for her resignation.

Washington County Controller April Sloane, 43, was arrested last week at her county office on charges of felony animal cruelty after authorities say her dog, Thor, starved to death.
Thor's necropsy showed the animal died of 'severe emaciation' and weighed only 20 pounds, less than half of what its weight should have been.
Sloane’s 14-year-old son told police that he asked his mother to take Thor to a veterinarian, but she refused. An emergency veterinary clinic is located less than 500 feet from Sloane’s house.
The dog’s body was found stuffed in a garbage bag in a back corner of Sloane’s garage as authorities served a search warrant at her home on Dec. 6.
Sloane, a Republican, was elected to her post in November 2021. She had adopted Thor several months earlier and social media posts show she took him along on campaign stops and posed the dog atop her political yard signs ahead of the election.