Police: 2 charged with animal cruelty after pets are left behind in a Harmar hotel room

Two people are accused of animal neglect after, police say, they abandoned a dog and a cat in a hotel room in Harmar.

Harmar police charged Timothy E. McAtee, 39, and Casandra Lynn Lang, 32, both of Harmar, with two counts of animal cruelty and three counts of animal negligence after a dog and a cat were found in a Days Inn hotel room after McAtee and Lang had checked out.

Harmar police wrote in a criminal complaint that a Days Inn employee contacted them Feb. 28 to report the abandoned animals.

Hotel staff told police the room had been vacated for multiple days. When staff entered the room to clean, they found the two animals inside. Staff reported the room “had an excess of trash and animal waste throughout,” the complaint said.

When police inspected the room, officers described an “overpowering odor of feces and refuse to the point of nearly inducing vomit,” the complaint said. Both animals were loose, and a single, overflowed bowl of pet food was on the floor, police said.

Harmar police contacted the Humane Society to aid in the investigation.

A Humane Society officer took both animals to be checked by a veterinarian, police said.

Humane Society officials said the dog was underweight and showed signs of a previously broken leg that hadn’t healed properly and could require surgery, police said. The cat was reported as being in “relatively healthy” condition.

A preliminary hearing for McAtee and Lang has not yet been scheduled.