Cold Case Of Cruelty
Cops: Animals frozen to death in West Virginia pet store
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APRIL 12--A West Virginia man is facing animal cruelty charges after police raided his pet store and discovered that he allegedly killed a variety of animals by placing them alive inside a freezer.
Aaron Ashley, 27, is facing the felony rap in connection with 'animals being frozen alive and starved to death,' according to a criminal complaint filed last week. A search warrant application includes an inventory of the dead animals found in early-February when cops raided Ashley's Pets Plus: six kittens, one dog, five mice, one reptile and 10 rats. Ashley reportedly opted to freeze some of the animals in lieu of paying for medical treatment they needed.
The search of Pets Plus, which is now closed, was triggered when cops received information that 'deceased animals were being kept in freezers on the premises,' and, according to a store employee, that Ashley had been knowingly selling dogs infected with the deadly Parvo virus. Ashley, pictured at left in a photo from his MySpace page, was booked last week on the animal cruelty rap and is free on $1000 bond. (5 pages)
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