Laci Rae Harper

(UPDATE: Lt. Don Wiesehan of the Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Department served the warrant on Laci Harper, aka Laci Bailey, Thursday afternoon.)

An arrest warrant was served Thursday afternoon for the woman accused of starving two German Shepherd puppies.

Laci Bailey, who also goes by the name Laci Harper, has been charged with a Class A misdemeanor for cruelty to an animal. According to the Kosciusko County Prosecutor’s office, the charge is the only one allowed by state statute.

A warrant for her arrest was issued Tuesday and the case has been filed in Kosciusko Superior Court II. A cash bond has been set at $1,000.

The case against Bailey started on Sept. 22 when her neighbor in Burket, Patrick Jamison, took video of the two puppies that were tied up together in a yard with no food and only filthy water in a kiddie pool. (See related story and video) The same night, Jamison returned to Bailey’s yard and found one of the puppies deceased and the other beginning to consume it. He took the remaining puppy in his care until Monday when Kosciusko County Animal Control Officer Jerry Clase went to the Burket home to investigate.

Clase took possession of both the dead puppy and the one Jamison rescued. A necropsy was ordered on the deceased puppy and the results, as we reported last week, confirmed the female puppy died of starvation. (See related story)

StaceyPageOnline.com interviewed Bailey by phone last week (See related story). She insisted she had not starved the puppies and said they had likely gotten the parvovirus, which is mostly fatal to dogs. When the test for parvovirus was negative, Bailey could offer no explanation for the condition of the puppies.

If convicted on the Class A misdemeanor charge, Bailey faces no more than 1 year in jail and a fine not to exceed $5,000.