‘She’s got so many dogs’: Bodycam footage shows welfare check months before 79-year-old woman, 55 dogs found in horrid conditions

April McLaughlin body cam

April McLaughlin speaks to an officer during a welfare check for her 79-year-old mother Kathleen McLaughlin on June 30, 2023, in Chandler, Arizona. (KSAZ/YouTube)

Body camera footage shows police in Arizona conducting a welfare check on a 79-year-old woman nearly three months before a raid at the home revealed that the woman and 55 dogs were living in horrid conditions, which led to the arrest of the woman’s daughter on elder and animal abuse charges.

Local Fox affiliate KSAZ obtained the body camera footage of a Chandler Police officer’s June 30 welfare check on Kathleen McLaughlin at the home outside of Phoenix. The check occurred because McLaughlin alerted staff at a library that she was being mistreated. Library staff in turn called Adult Protective Services which contacted police.

Her daughter April McLaughlin, who ran an animal shelter for special-needs dogs, was arrested Sept. 22 on a felony elder abuse charge along with 55 counts each of animal abuse and cruelty of animals, both misdemeanors. But the Maricopa County District Attorney’s Office declined to prosecute and sent the case back to the Chandler Police Department for further investigation. April McLaughlin is not facing any charges at this time.

The body camera footage shows the officer approach April McLaughlin as she’s arriving home in her car. She said she was just coming back from the vet’s office to care for a special-needs dog. She asks what the officer wants and he informs her he is doing a welfare check on her mother.

April McLaughlin tells the officer she has full power of attorney for her mother’s financial and medical decisions. The officer asks for the paperwork that shows that, but April McLaughlin says she will give it at a later date because she doesn’t know where it is.

“She has dementia. That’s why she’s here,” April McLaughlin tells the officer. “We can’t afford to put her in a home. She can dress herself, feed herself, all that stuff.”

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