Woman Arrested In Cat Shirt Admits Trying To Poison Neighbor's Dog
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (CBS4) - A woman who pleaded guilty to animal cruelty after security video showed her throwing poisoned meat into her neighbor's yard was wearing a shirt with a cat on it when investigators took her mugshot. Police believe Margaret Werker soaked ground chicken meat in anti-freeze and and tossed it over the fence in early April.
A man called police, claiming his neighbor was trying to poison his dog Wrigley, according to our sister station KKTV.
Surveillance footage provided to KKTV by the Humane Society of the Pikes Peak Region shows Wrigley walk up to the fence as a person throws something over it from the other side. Luckily, the item got caught on the top of the fence and Wrigley didn't eat any of the poison.
Officials with the humane society said poisoning cases can be very difficult to investigate because usually there is very little evidence linking a suspect to the crime.
"However, in this case, the victim had proof," the humane society stated to KKTV. "He had obtained video of his neighbor throwing a substance into his backyard, which later tested positive for poisonous material."
Investigators believe Werker was upset about the dog barking.
"There were some concerns with some complaints about a barking dog in that area," Lindsey Vigna the Assistant Director for Law Enforcement explained to KKTV.
Werker was arrested and charged with aggravated cruelty to animals on May 4. This month, she pleaded guilty and received a deferred sentence. The judge also required her to make a $250 donation to the humane society.
