4 former Pittsburgh PetSmart employees face charges in death of toy poodle

May 11—Four employees from the PetSmart in Pittsburgh's East Liberty neighborhood face felony animal cruelty charges in connection with the November death of a toy poodle named Kobe, court records show.

Julie Miller, Shaphan Stonge, Elizabeth Doty and Heather Rowe all face various animal cruelty and neglect charges for their alleged roles in the poodle's death, which happened during a nail trim.

Rowe, 27, and Stonge, 37, are both charged with two counts of neglect of animals and a felony count of aggravated cruelty to animals. Doty, 21, and Miller, 32, are both charged with two counts of cruelty to animals and neglect of animals, along with two felony charges of aggravated cruelty to animals for alleged torture and death of an animal.

PetSmart officials said in a statement they were heartbroken by Kobe's death and indicated those involved have been fired.

"After this terrible accident, we launched an internal investigation and found unintended failure to adhere to our pet safety processes," the statement read. "Additionally, we cooperated with an external investigation, terminated the responsible associates and facilitated an autopsy to help provide answers."

AJ Ross, a CBS Sports reporter and Pittsburgh native, said she took 12-year-old Kobe to the PetSmart on Centre Avenue on Nov. 17. Because of covid-19 social distancing restrictions, she said she wasn't allowed to stay in the grooming area while groomers cut the dog's nails.

"I thought, 'He's not getting the full works, everything will be OK,'" Ross said.

She said she went next door to a Walgreens and returned to the pet store just minutes later. She said she was in line at the checkout, buying a toy and treats for Kobe, when she heard a manager paged over the intercom to the grooming area.

When she went to that area, she said she found her dog lifeless on the grooming table.

The groomers, she said, told her the dog had just collapsed. She took Kobe a few blocks away to an animal hospital where veterinarians and vet techs tried to revive him to no avail. Ross said she asked for a necropsy. She also demanded the surveillance footage from inside the store's grooming area.

She said the footage showed Doty and Miller put two tethers around Kobe's neck, with each pulling in opposite directions. She said Kobe could be seen struggling and thrashing without response from either of the women, and at one point the dog was suspended above the table by the tethers.

Ross reported the incident and what she saw in the surveillance footage to Humane Society Police Officer Angela Fry, who obtained a search warrant for the surveillance footage. Fry wrote in the complaint that the footage showed "exactly what Ross had described to me."

That included, Fry wrote in the complaint, Rowe and Stonge entering the grooming area and the four employees standing around Kobe's body and talking.

Rowe, Stonge, Koty and Miller were all charged Friday via summons, court records show. No attorneys were listed in the court documents, and preliminary hearings are scheduled for October.

Fry said she showed the footage to Dr. Arielle Samson, of Humane Animal Rescue. Samson told her, according to the complaint, that the two tethers pulling Kobe's neck in opposite directions, coupled with his paws being off the table, crushed his airway. Samson said Kobe's flailing and struggling was a response to not being able to breathe.

Fry wrote that she interviewed Miller, one of the groomers in the room with Kobe, in late December. She said groomers are trained to pick up dogs by the waist to attempt to keep them still during nail trims.

She claimed Kobe was "growling and snarling," and she didn't notice he stopped making noise because she was focused on his nails. Protocol, she said, dictates that associates seek veterinary care for an animal in distress, according to the complaint.

Ross adopted Kobe as a puppy in Myrtle Beach — her first television job out of college.

"I was really lonely, and I had this little furball to take care of," she said. "It was not so unbearable with him there."

She said she isn't trying to target PetSmart by speaking out about what happened to Kobe, but rather she just doesn't want anyone else to go through the same thing. She referenced legislation from 2005 that would have required dog groomers in Pennsylvania to be licensed professionals. The bill never passed.

"I really thought it would be something innocuous," she said of taking Kobe for a nail trim. "Now I don't have my dog anymore."

Megan Guza is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Megan at 412-380-8519, mguza@triblive.com or via Twitter .