re — Three Troy residents convicted in separate animal neglect and abandonment cases have been added to the Rensselaer County Animal Abuse Registry, District Attorney Mary Pat Donnelly announced Wednesday.
Donnelly proposed the need for an online registry of individuals convicted of animal abuse and neglect crimes to the Rensselaer County Legislature, and the Rensselaer County Animal Abuse Registration Act was passed in July 2021.
The law requires anyone 16 or older convicted of an animal abuse or neglect crime to register within 10 days of release from incarceration or the date of conviction. The registry includes names and addresses of registered offenders. Information remains on the registry for 10 years, and offenders convicted of a subsequent animal abuse or neglect crime remain on the registry for life.
- Jarin Cruz, 46, pleaded guilty in January 2026 to a violation of Agriculture and Markets Law Section 353 and was sentenced to two years probation. As part of her sentence, Cruz is banned for life from owning a pet. Cruz was found guilty of neglect involving a female pit bull that was found emaciated and with sores on parts of its body, according to the district attorney’s office.
- Nigel Blakes-Sanni, 25, also pleaded guilty in January 2026 to a violation of Agriculture and Market Law Section 353. Blakes-Sanni was accused of neglecting the care of a female French bulldog that was found confined with no food or water and with multiple wounds throughout its body. Blakes-Sanni was sentenced to 10 days in a sheriff’s work order program and a one-year conditional discharge, along with a lifetime ban on owning an animal.
- Sheldon Weir, 75, pleaded guilty in January 2026 to abandonment of animals, a violation of Agriculture and Market Law Section 355. Weir admitted to taking a neighbor’s cat and abandoning it near a pond off Hoosick Road. He was sentenced to a one-year conditional discharge, a five-year ban on owning an animal, a $500 fine and a $200 surcharge.
Under the law, failing to register is a misdemeanor punishable by incarceration and/or a fine. The legislation also prohibits animal shelters, pet sellers and others in Rensselaer County from selling, exchanging or otherwise transferring ownership of any animal to anyone listed as an animal abuse offender…