BOULDER, Colo.—A University of Colorado student accused of taping a dog to a refrigerator pleaded not guilty to animal cruelty and drug charges Friday.
Abby Toll, 20, is accused of binding her boyfriend’s 2-year-old dog, Rex, in packing tape and sticking him upside down to the fridge during an April fight. Police said Toll told them she was mad at her boyfriend for not getting rid of Rex after the dog bit her.
Police said they also found heroin on her after her arrest.
Toll’s boyfriend, Brian Beck, also faces a misdemeanor charge of animal cruelty, along with a false imprisonment charge. He is scheduled to finalize a plea deal July 15.
Toll’s lawyer, George Kokus, said Beck kept Toll in their apartment and took away her cell phone. He said the case should be seen as a domestic violence matter, and “she was the human victim.”
Toll pleaded not guilty to felony animal cruelty and drug charges as about 10 animal lovers, some with dogs, protested outside the courthouse. The protest was organized by Boulder-based Rocky Mountain Animal Defense, which doesn’t want authorities to allow Toll to plead guilty to lesser charges.
Kokus said Toll has been getting a lot of hate mail and he might ask to move her case from Boulder.
Rex has been adopted by a new family and renamed Yoshi—Japanese for “good luck.”
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Information from: Daily Camera,
