Woman gets 30 days in jail for taping dog to fridge

Abby Toll cried as she told a judge she was sorry for taping an 11-pound Shiba Inu to a boyfriend's refrigerator. Minutes later, a Boulder judge sentenced 21-year-old Toll to 30 days in jail and three years of probation. It was less than the 90 days prosecutors had sought, but more than her defense attorney felt was appropriate.

Judge Maria Berkenkotter called Toll's actions "bizarre, senseless and cruel" before sentencing the former University of Colorado student to jail. "This wasn't an act that occurred in a flash," she said. "Ms. Toll had to have thought it through."

Boulder investigators believe Toll bound the little dog's snout and legs before using packing tape to tie "Rex" upside down on her then-boyfriend's fridge in April of last year. Earlier this year, a Boulder jury found Toll guilty of aggravated animal cruelty. Technically Toll faced up to 18 months in jail, but the judge decided that wasn't appropriate considering, at least in part, that Toll had no previous criminal history.

Prosecutors had sought to bring "Rex" into the courtroom for Friday's sentencing hearing. The judge denied the request. Toll appeared shaken in front of the judge. "There has not been one day that I haven't thought of Rex and the pain he went though," Toll explained to the judge. "It's now my duty to prove to society that I am not the monster they claim me to be."

Toll's mother explained that her daughter actually grew up loving animals. "Her history with animals is extraordinary," Sherry Toll said. "Her real true love are dogs," she added as she held up a collage of images of Abby Toll and various animals.

Rex is now known as "Yoshi." Yoshi's new owner attended Friday's sentencing hearing as well. "Sadness is what I feel for [Toll]. What she did was reprehensible. It's terrible and to think that she chose to do this, that she did this to herself, it's depressing," Shannon Park said.