Two dogs crammed into feces-caked wire crates and eight cats trapped in a room thick with ammonia fumes — that is what Volusia County deputies say they found inside a home on Buckshot Avenue in Osteen earlier this week, leading to the arrest of a 34-year-old woman on 10 animal cruelty charges.
Volusia County Sheriff's deputies arrived at the residence around 11 a.m. on October 5 to assist Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officers who were executing a search warrant there, according to an arrest report detailed by HomeFetch. Inside, they found two dogs confined to wire crates that had been partially covered by household items and blankets. As KFOX reports, deputies also discovered eight cats shut inside a separate room, and the dogs appeared to have neither food nor water available to them.
The conditions documented inside the crates were especially grim. One crate was missing its plastic floor tray entirely, forcing the dog inside to stand directly on wire flooring with feces molded into it, the arrest report cited by the same account states. Investigators also noted black discoloration consistent with mold on the wall surfaces behind the crates, while responding personnel reported an overwhelming ammonia odor that triggered coughing and gagging among those on scene.
Woman Refused to Give Up the Animals
The woman identified in the case, Samantha Nicole Ashby of Osteen, refused to surrender the animals to authorities, according to KFOX. Volusia County Animal Services ultimately removed all ten animals from the property. Booking records published by Daytona Mugshots show Ashby was booked into the Volusia County Branch Jail the same day on charges including impounding or confining an animal without sufficient food or water, with bail set at $500 per charge.
Authorities have not released additional details about the animals' condition after they were removed from the home, nor have they disclosed what originally led Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officers to seek the search warrant at the Buckshot Avenue address.
What Ashby Could Face Under Florida Law
Under Florida Statutes § 828.12 and § 828.13, failing to provide sufficient food, water, or shelter is classified as a first-degree misdemeanor, punishable by up to a year in jail and a $5,000 fine per count, according to Goldman Wetzel. Intentional acts causing excessive pain or death escalate to third-degree felony aggravated animal cruelty, carrying up to five years in prison. Because state law allows prosecutors to file separate counts for each animal involved, the ten animals found in the Osteen home could each factor into the charges Ashby ultimately faces.
Beyond the criminal case, Volusia County maintains an official Animal Abuse Database that lists people convicted of animal cruelty or whose pets were forfeited under Florida Statute § 828.073, according to Volusia County Government. That listing bars those individuals from future pet ownership or shelter adoptions in the county. Seized animals from cases like this one typically pass through the county's centralized intake shelter in DeLand, which opened in October 2025 to house strays, quarantined animals, and confiscated pets from cruelty investigations across unincorporated areas such as Osteen. The county also employs a shelter veterinarian who performs forensic medical evaluations on seized animals to support criminal prosecutions.
Part of a Pattern Across Volusia County
The Osteen case lands amid a string of animal neglect arrests across Volusia County this year. Just a week earlier, an Oak Hill man was arrested after his dog was found starving and covered in skin sores. In February, authorities arrested a Port Orange woman after rescuing a severely emaciated dog named Olive from a New Smyrna Beach home where witnesses reported long-term indoor confinement without food or water. And in April, a cruelty investigation at a DeLand motel room uncovered 19 abandoned cats living in reeking conditions, three of which died before 16 survivors could receive emergency care.
