Thurston County woman sentenced to community service in dog abuse case

A 28-year-old Thurston County woman will serve four days of community service and pay a $200 fine after pleading guilty Thursday to a charge stemming from a 2014 dog abuse case.

Natasha M. Pabon pleaded guilty to second-degree attempted animal cruelty before Thurston County Superior Court Judge Anne Hirsch and was given a 90-day suspended sentence. She won’t serve time unless she violates the terms of her sentence. She also was ordered not to own any animals for a year.

Deputy Prosecutor Joseph Wheeler said he believes the sentence is fair given details that have emerged regarding the case.

“It was her children who were doing it as opposed to her,” Wheeler said.

Thurston County Animal Services began investigating Pabon in June 2014 after a neighbor reported that Pabon’s children had been abusing a puppy named Bella, according to court documents. The neighbor reported that the children were seen lying on Bella, standing on her neck, yanking on her collar and throwing her.

The neighbor reported seeing the abuse several times, and one incident was captured in a cellphone video.

An animal services officer filed a report on the incident. “This was the most horrible attack on a baby animal by children that (she) had ever seen,” according to court documents.

Bella was treated at a local hospital, and a veterinarian reported that she has pelvic limb lameness consistent with blunt-force trauma.

The neighbor reported that Pabon had witnessed some of the abuse, but at the Thursday hearing, Office of Assigned Counsel attorney Eric Pilon told the judge that his client hadn’t seen the abuse.

“She had no idea that this was happening,” Pilon said. “When she found out, she was shocked.”

Pabon spoke in court, saying that her children had been in counseling since the incident and that she believed the violence stemmed from a domestic violence incident her children had witnessed.

Hirsch told Pabon that she hopes the children will receive counseling for as long as they need it.

“It’s really troubling behavior,” Hirsch said. “I hope that they’re never, ever going to do anything like that again.”

This story was originally published September 3, 2015 at 4:29 PM with the headline "Thurston County woman sentenced to community service in dog abuse case."