RCSD: Arrest made after 2 dead cats found at public storage facility

FILE

RICHLAND COUNTY, S.C. (WOLO)– A person was arrested after investigators say two dead cats were found in a storage unit.

RCSD says deputies responded to a call about a storage unit with a smell coming from the unit around 8:30 p.m. on July 28.

When deputies arrived at the storage facility located at 811 Bookman Road, they reached out to the Richland County Fire Department to help gain entrance to the unit.

Once inside, Richland County Sheriff’s Department deputies say they located a large shopping bag with what they believed to be multiple deceased cats.

Due to the level of decomposition, deputies were unable to determine exactly how many deceased cats were inside.

Then Richland County Animal Control was called in to take custody of the remains.

Investigators say the remains were taken to a veterinarian to x-ray the bag and determined that the bag contained the bodies of two deceased cats.

RC Animal Control took the corpses to an additional veterinarian to conduct necropsies.

After an investigation, RCSD determined that the renter of the storage unit, 33-year-old Chelsie Poplawski, was last known to have entered the storage unit on April 6.

Poplawski was arrested on Friday, August 2, on two counts of cruel treatment leading to the death of an animal (cats) and is at the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center.