News – Sheridan Media
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A 55-year-old Ranchester woman was sentenced for animal cruelty in Fourth Judicial District Court Monday. Sheridan Media’s Ron Richter has the details.
On July 19, 2025, the Sheridan County Sheriff’s Office received a report of possible animal cruelty at a residence on Soldier Creek Road in Sheridan County. Sheriff’s Office deputies, once on scene, discovered two dead dogs in an entryway room to a home that was being rented by Jeniffer Miller. A subsequent investigation by the Sheridan County Sheriff’s Office led to the arrest of Miller. She was initially charged with two counts of felony animal cruelty, but those charges were later amended to misdemeanors and Miller pleaded no contest to two counts of misdemeanor animal cruelty.
Sheridan County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Boot Hill, one of the investigators in the case, testified at a sentencing hearing Monday that when he arrived on scene on July 19, the smell was putrid and there were flies all over the place. Hill testified that once a search warrant of the home was obtained, he and another deputy were let in by a ranch hand of the Cato Ranch where the home was located. Deputy Hill said there were two dead dogs locked in a small entryway room to the house and there was no food or water for the animals.
Hill also testified the room was stifling hot as it was the middle of summer and the room nor home had any type of temperature control. Hill said that the two dogs, a mother and its puppy, were laying curled up together and were deceased.
At sentencing, Sheridan County Attorney Dianna Bennett argued for the maximum sentence for each charge, which is six months in jail, because the defendant locked the dogs in a hot room and failed to provide food or water, essentially leaving them there to suffer and eventually die.
District Court Judge Ben Kirven contemplated all of the testimony and evidence in the case for several minutes before issuing the sentence. Judge Kirven sentenced Miller to six months in jail on each count and to run the sentences consecutively and suspend all but seven days.
Miller was also placed on one year of unsupervised probation and received credit for three days of presentence confinement and was ordered to pay $400 in court costs and assessments. She will not be allowed to be in possession of any animals during her probationary period. Following the sentencing hearing, Miller was handcuffed and shackled and taken to the Sheridan County Detention Center to serve her four days in jail.
I’m Ron Richter, Sheridan Media News.
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Last modified: April 14, 2026