Controller Sloane’s bond revoked, sent to jail for ‘harboring’ cat
County row officer is awaiting trial on animal cruelty charges for pet dog's death
For the second time in less than two years, one of the elected row officers in Washington County was sent to jail.
Controller April Sloane, who is awaiting trial on animal cruelty charges in connection with the starvation death of her pet dog last year, was handcuffed and taken to jail Wednesday morning after a judge revoked her bond for “harboring” a cat while living at her boyfriend’s North Strabane apartment.
Judge John DiSalle revoked Sloane’s bond during a hearing in Washington County Court of Common Pleas after she was accused of violating the terms of her release by being around her boyfriend’s cat after moving into his Park Place apartment in June.
Prosecutors filed a motion for revocation on July 3 after it was discovered the animal was living there in the two weeks after she had moved in. First Assistant District Attorney Leslie Ridge said during Wednesday’s hearing that the cat being in her presence was a “flagrant violation” of her bond and would “blur the lines” on what the conditions meant.
“She’s living at that address and there was an animal there,” Ridge said. “That’s a violation of her bond.”
Sloane, 43, is accused of neglecting and starving her pet dog, Thor, who was found dead in her North Strabane townhouse on Dec. 6 about 10 days after dying. A search of the home by North Strabane police found the animal’s carcass in a trash bag placed in the garage after the animal died Nov. 27. She was arrested Dec. 12 on two felony counts of aggravated animal cruelty and one misdemeanor charge of animal neglect, but had been free on $150,000 unsecured bond since that time.
Her defense attorney, Louis Emmi, acknowledged that Sloane was living in the same apartment as the cat. But he denied she was caring for it and did not own it, meaning she did not think it violated her bond conditions that she could not “harbor an animal of any kind” until her case on animal cruelty charges was adjudicated.
“(Sloane) was not in control of the animal, sheltering the animal or caring for the animal,” Emmi said. “Harboring was not what she was doing.”
Emmi asked Sloane to testify, and she agreed after DiSalle informed her that she had the right to remain silent due to her upcoming trial on the animal cruelty charges. Sloane said she was never in charge of caring for the cat that was owned by her boyfriend, Philip Chappel, and it was an emotional support animal for him and his 71-year-old father, who also lived in the apartment.
“Harboring, from my perspective, is that I owned the animal and was responsible … for feeding and watering and caring for the animal,” Sloane said.
Sloane had just sold her North Strabane townhouse and she was living at a hotel periodically before moving into Chappel’s apartment on June 18. It was not revealed in court how investigators learned there was a cat in the same residence where Sloane was staying.
Ridge questioned whether Sloane had “access” to the cat while living there for two weeks, which she admitted was possible.
“The cat was there, yes,” Sloane said.
Chappel then testified and said he had owned the cat since 2007 and has lived in the Park Place development along Route 19 since 2017. He told DiSalle that it was his cat and under the care of himself and his father, who is homebound.
“I have the cat,” Chappel said. “It’s my cat.”
After prosecutors filed the motion for bond revocation last week, Chappel said he made arrangements to board the cat at another location, with Sloane agreeing to pay for the cost.
Emmi called the situation a “misunderstanding” and asked the judge to consider leniency now that the cat is living elsewhere. He asked that if DiSalle did alter her bail, he change it to a percentage bond so she could have a better chance to post it.
“Is it right to take her liberty away without looking at the totality of the facts?” Emmi said.
But DiSalle was unmoved by Emmi’s arguments, including federal case law about whether “harboring” an animal meant to take “control” of it.
“There’s two bond conditions and she’s complying with one,” DiSalle said, noting that the other is regularly attending mental health evaluations. “(Sloane) admitted for three weeks – until this was discovered – that she was living with a cat. … These are simple terms.”
DiSalle then ordered that Sloane’s current unsecured bond be changed to $150,000 straight cash bail, and he remanded her to jail. Sheriff’s deputies immediately handcuffed Sloane in the courtroom and walked her to a waiting police SUV to transport her to the county jail across the street from the courthouse. She was later transferred to the Allegheny County Jail in Pittsburgh, where she posted bond and was released Wednesday afternoon.
She had been free on the unsecured bond and was continuing to work as county controller while awaiting trial following her arrest in December. Her trial is scheduled for Sept. 10 after Emmi asked for a delay from the original date in June.
Sloane, a Republican who was elected county controller in November 2021 and took office two months later, said nothing as she was led from the courthouse. She is up for reelection next year as her term expires in January 2026.
County Chief of Staff Daryl Price and Clerk of Court Ray Phillips – along with several animal welfare activists – were among the more than dozen people in the audience during Sloane’s bond revocation hearing.
She is now the second elected row officer to be jailed in less than two years after former Clerk of Courts Brenda Davis was held in contempt of court by DiSalle in August 2022 and ordered to spend 15 days in the Washington County jail.