Orange County woman federally charged with animal crushing in puppy death
A 75-year-old Anaheim woman has been federally charged for allegedly running over and killing her puppy last month in "an act of appalling cruelty," the Department of Justice announced.
Hanh Minh Nguyen was arrested earlier this month by the Santa Ana Police Department and is already facing felony counts of animal cruelty and animal abuse, and a felony enhancement for the personal use of a weapon, a vehicle, to kill the animal, prosecutors said.
Now, she has additionally been federally charged with animal crushing, a felony that carries a statutory maximum sentence of seven years in federal prison.
On Sept. 8, City of Santa Ana Animal Services responded to 900 West Park Lane, where a witness said the driver of a minivan appeared to intentionally run over a dog.
Police said officers and animal services responded and found an approximately 9-month-old black-and-white pit bull mix, dead.
"It appeared to be very much run over," Officer Natalie Garcia said earlier.
Officers found surveillance video of the incident and released it to the public to help identify the driver of the older-model Honda Odyssey. The following morning, on Oct. 1, Nguyen was arrested.
Police said Nguyen admitted to owning and abandoning her 9-month-old pit bull, "Blackey."
The federal case is charged under the Preventing Animal Cruelty and Torture (PACT) Act, signed into law in 2019, which established a nationwide prohibition on animal crushing and empowered federal authorities to pursue cases involving extreme acts of cruelty, according to the DOJ.
"Luring a defenseless puppy with food only to crush him beneath a vehicle is an act of appalling cruelty," First Assistant United States Attorney Bill Essayli said in a news release.
An autopsy revealed that the puppy's cause of death was a crushed skull, leading to complete brain damage, prosecutors said.
Nguyen is expected to make her initial appearance in U.S. District Court in Santa Ana in the coming weeks.
