BOONE COUNTY - Taylor Stout, a former groomer at a pet shop in Mexico, pleaded guilty Friday to animal abuse and received probation.
Stout, 26, was sentenced to one year in Boone County Jail, with suspended execution of sentenced, according to a release from the Audrain County Prosecutor's Office. She was placed on two years of supervised probation. Animal abuse is a class A misdemeanor in Missouri. Stout was originally charged with animal abuse by torture.
According to previous KOMU 8 reporting, Stout and co-defendant James Johns were employed at Downtown Pet Stop and were accused of abusing animals in July 2019. A probable cause statement said a customer told the business owner, Nancy Buck, that their dog was ill following a visit to the shop.