From The Trussville Tribune staff reports
TRUSSVILLE – The Trussville woman charged with aggravated cruelty to animals following the hot-car death of her pit bull mix will have a pre-trial court hearing on Monday, Feb. 10, at the Jefferson County Criminal Court. The pre-trial was originally set for Friday, Jan. 31, but was reset for next month.
Stephanie Shae Thomas, 34, of Trussville, was charged with a felony warrant in connection to a dog that died in a hot car on July 4, 2019, in the Walmart parking lot, according to Trussville Police.
Shortly after 11 a.m. on Wednesday, July 4, the Trussville Police Department received a call of a dog inside a vehicle with the engine not running in the parking lot in front of Walmart located at 5919 Trussville Crossings Parkway.
When officers arrived, they found the dog still alive inside the Mercedes car. All the doors were locked and police tried to locate the owner but were unable to do so. They broke a window out of the vehicle and removed the dog.
The dog was in distress and efforts were made to keep it alive, but it did not survive.
The Jefferson County Humane Society responded and recovered the dog’s body.
According to police, further investigation showed that the driver of the vehicle had parked the car in the parking lot at approximately 4 a.m. on the same date and went inside Walmart. She returned to her car at noon and officers confirmed she was the person who parked the car with the dog inside.
Police said Stephanie Shae Thomas was released from the scene at the time and told investigators would be speaking to her later. The next day, Thomas came to the Trussville Police Department and confessed she left her dog inside the car for several hours while she shopped inside Walmart. At the time, police said Thomas told them she never went outside to check on the dog. She told them she lost track of time while inside the store.
Related story: VIDEO: Charges expected after dog left in hot car dies
A felony warrant for aggravated cruelty to animals was issued for Thomas.