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Former animal control supervisor indicted

Posted at 12:20 PM, Mar 03, 2016
and last updated 2016-03-04 12:09:41-05

UPDATE: The former Boulder City Animal Control supervisor Mary Jo Frazier, accused of unnecessarily killing animals, has been indicted by a grand jury on animal cruelty charges. 13 Action News spoke to the Clark County District Attorney and former Police Chief Thomas Finn, who says he is responsible for turning Frazier in.

"This was an important case to a lot of people," said Clark County District Attorney Steven Wolfson. "The Boulder City community was outraged at this conduct and that's why the grand jury, in my opinion, decided to indict her for these felony crimes."
 
Frazier is looking at two felony counts of animal cruelty. One is for unjustifiably killing her ex-husband's dog. The other is for prematurely euthanizing a pit bull puppy. Frazier was even quoted saying she was just going to "stick" the dog because it wasn't worth the money.
 
"Is it sad?" asked former Boulder City Police Chief Thomas Finn. "Is it an outrage? Absolutely. Anybody who loves animals or even those who don't, it's just the wrong thing to do. She failed to do her job the way she should have."
 
Finn was Boulder City's Police Chief for seven years. Frazier worked under him that entire time.
 
"I got along OK with Mary Jo," he said. "She was a little rough around the edges."
 
But even so, Finn says, he is the one pretty much responsible for turning Frazier in.
 
"I'm the one that was able to get the records finally when others were unsuccessful," said Finn.
 
Dozens of families say Frazier killed their family pet. Finn says she did more than that too. He says she stole money and drugs from the shelter as well. He hopes the grand jury will address that. But he also has a hope for Boulder City.
 
"I hope it teaches Boulder City that when you uncover misconduct, that you try not to sweep it under the rug because many times the cover up is worse than the crime and that's exactly what happened here."
 
The grand jury is not dismissed. If they have enough evidence, they could still charge Frazier with more crimes. Frazier is facing up to eight years behind bars.
 

ORIGINAL STORY: A grand jury has indicted former Boulder City Animal Control supervisor Mary Jo Frazier on two counts of cruelty to animals, which is a Class D felony. Each count carries a possible penalty of 1 to 4 years in prison.

The first count is for the unjustifiable euthanization of a male Dachshund dog named Oscar. The second count is for failing to provide adequate food, and/or medical care, and/or pain management to a Pitbull puppy named Lotus.

RELATED: District attorney receives case against former Boulder City animal control officer
 
“We are looking forward to finally seeking justice on these charges,” said Chief Deputy District Attorney in charge of animal cruelty cases Amy Ferreira. “Sadly, Lotus was in Ms. Frazier’s care because she had already been severely abused.”

RELATED: Boulder City police chief resigns amidst animal control scandal
           
“Animal cruelty of any type is unacceptable,” said Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson. “This case is especially unsettling because the defendant was a person trusted by our community to treat all animals in her care humanely. Ms. Frazier violated her duty when it came to Oscar and Lotus.”