SMITHTOWN WOMAN CHARGED WITH ANIMAL CRUELTY

Detectives from the Suffolk County SPCA charged a Smithtown woman with animal cruelty for confining her six dogs inside an unsanitary and rotting old home. 

Roy Gross, Chief of the Suffolk County SPCA, said that it’s detectives charged Lisa A Watt, 55, of Smithtown after a search warrant executed on a Kings Park home on Old Commack Road now deemed unfit for occupancy by code officials. 

Six dogs were removed with the assistance of Smithtown Animal control officers from the conditions inside. The walls were covered in grime, filth with black discoloration and spiderwebs. A portion of the first floor dining room ceiling was collapsed into the room, the second floor bedroom had the roof collapsed into the floor where the sky was visible from indoors. The floor was bare wood with the finish scratched off in the traversable portions of the interior where urine and feces were permeated into the wood, the kitchen had four dogs confined to it with feces and urine strewn about and tiles discolored with the same.

The air was noxious and the overwhelming odor of ammonia, rot, urine, and feces was so pungent that it caused officers to cough, gag, and not tolerate long periods of time inside the home. There was no running water or power accessible indoors. A seventh dog found decomposing inside will undergo forensic examination at the Animal Health Diagnostic Center at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY. 

After a lengthy investigation charges have been filed. Watt was arrested by detectives on October 26, 2024 at 12:20 PM in Smithtown at a relatives home. She was charged with six counts of Animal Cruelty and six counts of Neglecting an Impounded Animal and later released from the Suffolk County Police Department Fourth Precinct after being processed by Suffolk County SPCA detectives.

Watt is scheduled to appear before a Suffolk County Judge in First District Court in Central Islip on October 29, 2024.

Animal cruelty will not be tolerated in Suffolk County. If you witness any incident of animal cruelty or neglect in Suffolk County please contact the Suffolk County SPCA at (631) 382-7722. 

A criminal charge is an accusation. A defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.