- Pennsylvania, USA -
The Altoona Police Department arrested 24-years-old MARY JAYDA ELAYNEE PATTERSON (pictured) accused of stealing ferrets and cats and letting them die.
An investigation into PATTERSON revealed that on September 19, 2023, she asked a woman to go to a property in the 400 block of Beech Avenue in Altoona to retrieve eight cats and four ferrets. PATTERSON then took the animal to her home in the 100 block of Sixth Avenue.
The woman told police that although she was hesitant, she took the animals anyway. She went on to tell the police that when she took the animals, they were all in good health and that when she went to PATTERSON’s home on September 21, 2023, she saw them trapped in a cat cage with no food or water. She added that the animals were covered in feces and that they appeared to be in poor health.
According to the affidavit, the woman asked PATTERSON is she could clean the ferrets, and PATTERSON answered, “no.”
Investigators learned that when the woman returned to PATTERSON’s home on September 29, 2023, she noticed a “significant change” in the ferrets’ health. They were still being kept in the same cage with no food or water, and they were smelling. When the woman brought the bad smell to PATTERSON’s attention, she picked up the crate and put it outside.
The woman provided investigators with some Facebook messages she exchanged with PATTERSON and in one of them dated September 19, 2023, PATTERSON said that if she did not get the cats, she would have broken the ferrets’ necks.
On October 11, 2023, the woman asked PATTERSON how the ferrets were doing and if they had been cleaned. PATTERSON answered that two of the ferrets were dead, one was barely alive, and one was alive. PATTERSON added: “I told you this was gonna happen.” PATTERSON then told the woman that she was going to bury the deceased ferrets and kill the live one.
The woman provided police with pictures of the ferrets’ conditions.
PATTERSON was arrested on October 15, 2023, arraigned the following day before Judge Matthew Dunio and bond was set at $10,000. PATTERSON was unable to post the required 10% so, she is being held into the Blair County Prison on a total of sixteen (16) charges.
Online court records show that PATTERSON’s preliminary hearing is set for October 25, 2023, at 9:00 a.m. before Judge Daniel C. DeAntonio.
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