Written by: E. George
Published February 5, 2024 @ 9:35 PM ET
Warning: The following report describes violence against/neglect of animals.
HOUSTON COUNTY, Ga. – Warner Robins Police officers arrested Yashari Latrice Finklin on January 8, 2024, and charged her with aggravated cruelty to animals after a dog in her care died. Finklin had offered to take in the Chihuahua for a year while his owner was away on military deployment.
On December 13, 2023, an office manager at Southwood Animal Hospital contacted the police department to report the crime. The email contained a photograph of the dog, Joshua, in “good and healthy condition” and one of him “deceased” and “emaciated.”
Joshua’s owner had arranged for her friend in New York to watch him while she was deployed; however, just before she left, she learned he could no longer do it. She contacted Guardian Angels for Soldiers’ Pets, an organization that provides “volunteers who foster service members’ pets while they are away on deployment.”
She heard back from them when she “was already on the plane.” She “was put in contact with a subject” who was “also in the military, to temporarily keep Joshua until arrangements could be made for the dog to be picked up by the organization.”
The person “kept Joshua for a few days, sending pictures and videos of him playing while he was there.” While they waited for the organization, Finklin, who “is believed to be a cousin of [the current sitter], offered to keep Joshua” for the entire year.
Finklin claimed to be “ex-Air Force and that they helped each other out.” She even offered to care for him at no charge because she said again, “They help each other out.”
Joshua’s owner sent Finklin money via Zelle for a plane ticket to Hollywood, Florida, to pick him up and bring him to her home in Warner Robins. She also sent her “lunch and gas money.”
The first sitter handed Joshua over to Finklin, along with food and other items his owner had left for him. Joshua’s owner said Finklin “assured her that she would send pictures and Facetime with her.”
His owner instructed Finklin to take Joshua to a veterinarian clinic “because it was time for his vaccinations to be updated.” After she received photos from Finklin confirming they had arrived at her home, she said she “began to struggle to get Yashari to send her photos or Facetime with her.”
She “grew concerned because after so much time passed with her asking Yashari to send photos of Joshua, she finally sent photos, and he looked thin.” When she “questioned his thin appearance,” Finklin “claimed not to understand why because he had been eating well.”
Joshua’s owner urged her again to take him to the vet. Finklin told her “Joshua had vomiting and diarrhea the previous week but that he was better now.”
His owner explained that she received very few photographs and “had a bad feeling each time she received them, but the last pictures she sent really bothered her.” She contacted Guardian Angels for Soldiers’ Pets again and desperately pleaded with them to “get Joshua in a home with someone with them.”
The organization told her they would try to find someone to transport Joshua from Georgia. Two to three weeks later, they found a Florida resident to look after Joshua, and his owner offered to pay someone to pick him up and “get him back to safety.”
Finklin met with the person but kept Joshua and told his owner that the woman “was saying nasty things about the organization and crying.” The organization contacted his owner and informed her that Finklin had told the transport person that Joshua “had a rash and some other concerning issues,” which changed her mind “out of concern for other animals in her home.”
Finklin “assured her that Joshua was safe with her.” Two weeks later, Finklin took Joshua to Southwood Animal Hospital, where he “tested positive for hookworms” and appeared “a little thin.”
His owner purchased the medication, and two weeks later, she contacted Finklin to check on him and his food supply. Finklin told her she did not need food yet, which concerned her “because the last time she sent food was June.”
Finklin told her she traveled to her parents’ house in Florida for a visit and had Joshua with her. His owner “kept in constant contact” with her “to check on Joshua” and felt that Finklin “was getting annoyed that she was not asking about Yashari, that she was only asking about her dog.”
Joshua’s owner “was growing more concerned with Yashari and was careful with how she interacted with her due to some of the things Yashari was talking about.”
At the beginning of December, Finklin “contacted her and advised her that when she woke up, Joshua was dead.” She told Finklin to take him to the vet, and she complied.
The veterinary office contacted Joshua’s owner and told her he “was significantly smaller and skinnier than when she saw him last.” She said she wanted to conduct more tests and “send him to Tifton to the pathologist for further testing.”
“The results of the necropsy conclude that the cause of death of Joshua was starvation.”
This case is pending in court.
Officer’s Narrative:
[Please note: The following is a direct transcription from the official initial incident report. The Georgia Gazette does not fix any spelling or grammatical errors that may exist. Any changes or redactions made by our staff are placed inside brackets. Some errors may exist. All subjects are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. The topics discussed may be sensitive to some readers. Discretion is advised.]
On 12/13/2023 I, ACO Pearce, was contacted via city email by [REDACTED], Officer Manager at Southwood Animal Hospital, in reference to cruelty to animals.
In the email were pictures of a tan in color Chihuahua, one picture was in good and healthy condition, the second was of a deceased emaciated animal. Both pictures were of a dog named Joshua, belonging to a female named [WITNESS #1]. Also included in the email was a necropsy report that was completed on Joshua at Tifton Veterinary Diagnostic and Investigational Labratory.
[WITNESS #1], who lives in [REDACTED BY AGENCY] is active military and recieved orders to deploy. In preparation for her departure, she made arrangements for her best friend in New York to watch her Chihuahua, Joshua, for the year that she would be gone. Just before she was to leave, the situation changed and her friend was unable to keep him, so Ms. [WITNESS #1] reached out to an organization called Guardian Angels for Soldiers’ Pets. This organization has volunteers that foster service members’ pets’ while they are away on deployment. Ms. [WITNESS #1] advised that she filled out an application, but was not contacted by the organization until she was already on the plane.
Ms. [WITNESS #1] advised that she was put in contact with a subject identified only as [REDACTED], who is also in the military, to temporarily keep Joshua until arrangements could be made for the dog to be picked up by the organization.
She advised that [REDACTED] kept Joshua for a few days, sending pictures and videos of him playing while he was there, and then when they were attempting to find someone to keep Joshua for the remainder of the time until the organization could get him, a female named Yashari Finklin, that is believed to be a cousin of [REDACTED], offered to keep Joshua for her.
Ms. [WITNESS #1] advised that Yashari offered to keep Joshua for the entire year that she was to be deployed, claiming that she was ex Air Force, and that they helped each other out. Ms. [WITNESS #1] advised she asked about pricing, and that Yashari again advised that she would do it no charge, because they help each other out.
Ms. [WITNESS #1] advised that she sent money to Yashari via Zelle for a plane ticket to fly to Hollywood, Fl to pick up Joshua, because Yashari lives in Warner Robins. She advised that due to Yashari’s work schedule, she didn’t purchase the ticket, she sent Yashari the money and Yashari booked the flight. Ms. [WITNESS #1] advised she also sent Yashari lunch and gas money.
She advised that [REDACTED] drove Joshua to the airport to transfer him to Yashari, and that he sent with him, the food and other items that Ms. [WITNESS #1] left him with at [REDACTED]’s house. Ms. [WITNESS #1] advised that Yashari assured her that she would send pictures and face time with her while she had Joshua. Ms. [WITNESS #1] advised that she told Yashari to take Joshua to the veterinarian because it was time for his vaccinations to be updated.
Ms. [WITNESS #1] advise that Yashari notified her when she returned home and sent photos confirming they were there and situated. Ms. [WITNESS #1] advised that after that she began to struggle to get Yashari to send her photos or to facetime with her. Ms. [WITNESS #1] grew concerned because after so much time past with her asking Yashari to send photos of Joshua, she finally sent photos and he looked thin.
When Ms. [WITNESS #1] questioned his thin appearance, she advised that Yashari claimed to not understand why, because he had been eating well. Ms. [WITNESS #1] advised that she again advised her to take Joshua to the vet as previously instructed for his vaccinations. She then advised that Yashari then claimed that Joshua had had vomiting and diarrhea the previous week but that he was better now.
Ms. [WITNESS #1] advised that as few and far in between the pictures were, she had a bad feeling each time she recieved them, but that the last pictures she sent really bothered her, so she reached back out to the organization who was originally going to keep Joshua, and asked that please try to get Joshua in a home with someone with them. She inquired whether they could transport Joshua since he was currently in Georgia, and the person she spoke with advised that they didn’t offer transport, but that she would try to get someone to transport for her.
Ms. [WITNESS #1] advised that it took approximately two to three weeks. The organization was able to find a person in Florida to keep Joshua, but that he was going to have to be transported back to her. Ms. [WITNESS #1] advised that she offered to pay whoever they got to go pick up Joshua to get him back to safety. The organization also advised that whoever got Joshua would take him to a vet since Yashari did not do so.
Ms. [WITNESS #1] advised that Yashari was supposed to be going to visit her parents that live an hour south of the Georgia/Florida border, so she would meet the volunteer with Joshua that was taking him back to Ocala.
Ms. [WITNESS #1] advised that Yashari told her that the person with the organization that was supposed to pick up Joshua from her was saying nasty things about the organization and crying. Ms. [WITNESS #1] then advised that the organization contacted her and advised that Yashari had advised that person that was supposed to transport Joshua to Ocala that he had a rash and some other concerning issues, and that the transporting person decided not to get him out of concern for other animals in her home.
Ms. [WITNESS #1] then advised that Yashari assured her that Joshua was safe with her and that she was feeling stressed with all the back and forth of whether Joshua was staying or leaving.
Ms. [WITNESS #1] advised approximately two weeks after that incident, Yashari took Joshua to Southwood Animal Hospital on Moody Rd. The invoice that corresponds with this is October 11, 2023. She called the vet prior to his visit to advise them what she wanted done. After the visit she advised the veterinarian called her and advised that Joshua was a little thin and that he tested positive for Hookworms. Ms. [WITNESS #1] advised that she attributed that to his weight loss previously.
She got him the medicine to treat the hookworms and she advised approximately two weeks later she checked on the food supply Yashari had for him. She advised that Yashari told her she didn’t need food yet, that she still had some, and if she were going to be transporting him not to send any. Ms. [WITNESS #1] advised that she was concerned that she still had food because the last time she sent food was June.
She advised that she sent food and that when it arrived Yashari advised that she wasn’t home, that she had gone to her parent’s to visit. Concerned, she asked her if she took Joshua with her, Yashari advised that she did. Ms. [WITNESS #1] advised that she kept in constant contact with Yashari to check on Joshua, and Ms. [WITNESS #1] grew concerned that Yashari was getting annoyed that she was asking about Yashari, that she was only asking about her dog.
She advised that she was growing more concerned with Yashari and was careful with how she interacted with her due to some of the things Yashari was talking about. Ms. [REDACTED] advised that she contacted [REDACTED] and asked him to go get Joshua, but was advised that he was out of the country on vacation. She then contacted the organization and the person that had previously volunteered to pick up Joshua to go get him, and was told no, that they didn’t think that Yashari would show up with him.
Ms. [WITNESS #1] advised after that she didn’t reach back out to that organization.
Ms. [WITNESS #1] advised that on either 12-2 or 12-3, she can’t say for sure because of the time difference between Georgia and her location, but that Yashari contacted her and advised her that when she woke up, Joshua was dead.
Ms. [WITNESS #1] advised that she asked her to send her a picture and was in disbelief. She advised that Yashari was out running errands but would send her a picture when she got home.
She advised that she then told her to take him to the veterinarian’s office. She advised that Yashari told her she had to go to work, but Ms. [WITNESS #1] said she told her she knew she had to go to work at eleven o’clock, so she could take him prior to that.
Ms. [WITNESS #1] advised that she took her to the vet, and that the vet contacted her and told her that Joshua was significantly smaller and skinnier than when she saw him last. She advised her that she wanted to run some more tests and that she wanted to send him to Tifton to the pathologist for further testing.
The results of the necropsy conclude that the cause of death for Joshua was starvation.
Ms. [WITNESS #1] advised that she sent dry and canned food for Joshua, paid yashari money, sent her money for vet visits, all of which Ms. [WITNESS #1] has provided account statements and order summaries.
[End of Narrative]