No More Jail Time For Former UA Student Who Left Dog To Die

TUSCALOOSA, AL — A former University of Alabama student who abandoned her dog to die in 2019 will not serve any more jail time for the felony conviction.

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Ryanne Joy’e Gilbert, 24, pleaded guilty Friday to first-degree aggravated animal cruelty, according to court records obtained by Tuscaloosa Patch.

She was sentenced to a 60-month suspended sentence, with two years of supervised probation.

Gilbert could be ordered to serve the full five years if she violates any terms of her two-year probation. She was also sentenced to serve 21 days in jail, but will receive credit for the three weeks she spent in a Virginia jail awaiting extradition to Tuscaloosa.

Gilbert was charged in 2019 after staff of the State on Campus student apartment complex discovered a decomposing dog in her locked bedroom.

Investigators with the Tuscaloosa Police Department determined that the Labrador/Weimaranermix named Stasia had been deprived of food and water for a prolonged period, leading to her death by starvation.

A cat was locked in the room, and another dog was locked in a crate elsewhere in the apartment.

The surviving animals were turned over to Metro Animal Shelter.

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