Calls Mount For PA Elected Official Charged In Dog's Death To Resign

WASHINGTON COUNTY, PA — The county's top elected officials are calling for the resignation of Controller April Sloane following her arrest Tuesday on felony animal cruelty charges after the death of her dog.

A joint statement was issued Wednesday by Commissioners Diana Irey Vaughan, Larry Maggi and Nick Sherman and incoming commissioner Electra Janis. Also signing the letter were county Treasurer Tom Flickenger, Prothonotary Laura Hough and Recorder of Deeds Carrie Perrell.

“As elected leaders, we know that an officeholder must be free to focus on official responsibilities, something we believe Controller Sloane will be unable to do given the troubling allegations raised by authorities,” the letter stated.

"For this reason,we believe she should step aside from official duties so that her office can function without the distraction and impediments these criminal charges place in her path.”

The dog, Thor, died of emaciation and weighed only 20 pounds when it perished, less than half of what its weight should have been.Police said they found the dog's body wrapped in a garbage bag placed in the basement garage of Sloan's home, the Observer-Reporter of Washington reported.

Police searched the house after receiving an anonymous tip.

Sloane, 43, was arrested in the county courthouse Tuesday. She was charged with two felony counts of animal cruelty and a misdemeanor charge of neglect of an animal for denying vet care.

Joining the elected officials in condemning Sloane, a Republican, was the Washington County Democratic Committee.

"Given the heinous nature of these charges and the substantial amount of publicly available information proving April Sloane’s guilt, she should not remain in public office another day," the committee said in an online statement.

"We, the taxpayers of Washington County should not be paying one more day’s salary - a $98,837 per year salary - to a woman who tortured her dog to death. Instead, we should be providing her with a cell in the county jail."