LV woman charged with car theft, animal cruelty
A woman driving a stolen car had two dogs as her passengers, one with infected cuts and a bow glued to its head, according to court records.
Sheila M. Cavitt-Olguin, 51, of Las Vegas was arrested Dec. 4 following a traffic stop on Seventh Street.
According to a statement of probable cause filed in San Miguel Magistrate Court, a San Miguel County Sheriff’s deputy pulled over the 1997 Honda Accord Cavitt-Olguin was driving because the car did not have a visible license plate. As the deputy approached the car, she was able to locate a license plate in the rear window, but it was difficult to read because the window was tinted.
After calling the car’s license plate and identification number into dispatch, the deputy learned the vehicle had been reported stolen in Albuquerque. Cavitt-Olguin told the deputy she’d purchased the car from a car lot in Albuquerque and said she did not have proof of registration, a title or a bill of sale because the man she bought it from was withholding those documents until she completed making payments on the car. However, the name the car was registered to did not match the name of the man Cavitt-Olguin said she purchased the car from.
Cavitt-Olguin also had two dogs in the car, a puppy with a bow on its head and an adult pit bull. The deputy noticed two cuts on the puppy’s head, and one of the cuts seemed to be infected. The bow also appeared to be glued to the dog’s head with super glue. According to the statement of probable cause, Cavitt-Olguin admitted to gluing the bow to the puppy’s head, but she said it was hair glue, not super glue.
Cavitt-Olguin was arrested and booked into the San Miguel County Detention Center on a felony count of receiving or transferring a stolen motor vehicle, and a misdemeanor count of cruelty to animals. An animal welfare officer took both dogs from Cavitt-Olguin and transported them to the Animal Welfare Coalition shelter for medical treatment and boarding.
During a Dec. 5 hearing in San Miguel Magistrate Court, Judge Melanie Rivera set an unsecured $5,000 bond for Cavitt-Olguin, and she was released from SMCDC.
According to court documents, Cavitt-Olguin has previously been charged with assisting escape from a jail, probation violations and criminal damage to property.
Cavitt-Olguin is being represented by public defender Ben Mondragon, and is scheduled to appear in Magistrate Court on Jan. 7 for a preliminary hearing.
