OKC Woman Charged With Animal Cruelty, Accused Of Having History Of Abandoning Dogs

Oklahoma County prosecutors filed charges this week on a woman who allegedly left her dogs to die in a southwest Oklahoma City apartment. Two of the animal cruelty charges dated back to 2019 when Cassandra Leaverton allegedly abandoned two dogs and one of the animals died.

Oklahoma City animal welfare workers were alerted to the most recent case last month.

Residents at an apartment complex near Southwest 59th and Western Avenue had not seen the dogs' owner in several days.

“We did find two dogs that were emaciated, very skinny,” OKC Animal Welfare Superintendent Jon Gary said. “Conditions of the apartment were not sanitary for the animals to be in.”

Animal control started looking into Leaverton's history and found a pending case from 2019.

Court records showed Leaverton was accused of leaving two dogs in another apartment. Police described the place as being trashed and covered in feces and urine. It was later determined one of the dogs had internal bleeding which caused its death.

“So, we have a pending case and now a new case,” Gary said. “That’s really what made this rise to the level of felony. There’s a lot of history there.”

Leaverton was charged with four counts of felony animal cruelty. 

“Most of the time they don’t end up with any kind of charge because animals are being cared for,” Gary said. “But these abandonment cases we do work several of them a month. Very few actually rise to the level of this case. This was one of the more severe, when you talk about abandonment.”

Gary said thankfully the dogs were rescued in time and now living new lives.

“One has been adopted and in a loving home,” Gary said. “We transferred the other one to one of our partners that we work with.”

Leaverton is not currently in custody but there is an active warrant for her arrest.