Tewksbury Woman Arraigned on Animal Cruelty Charges

TEWKSBURY - Nicole Hutcheon, 33, of Tewksbury was arraigned telephonically today in Lowell District Court on three counts of animal cruelty and one count of witness intimidation in connection with allegedly failing to care for multiple dogs in her custody and misleading investigators.

On April 5, 2020, Tewksbury Animal Control received a request for a well-being check on a dog allegedly in the defendant’s care from an agency that fosters dogs in the area.  The agency had allegedly become concerned about a German Shepherd that had been in the foster care of the defendant after the agency had stopped receiving updates about that dog. The agency also had knowledge about other dogs in the defendant’s care that they were also concerned about. 

Investigators allegedly learned that the German Shepherd the agency had expressed concern about had allegedly died in the defendant’s care and that the defendant had not reported the death of the dog. The cause of death was later ruled starvation. Investigators also located another German Shepherd puppy in the home that appeared to be underweight. The subsequent investigation further revealed that another German Shepherd, that had been adopted by the defendant, had also died while allegedly in her care and that the defendant had allegedly attempted to hide the remains of the animal. 

Judge Ellen Caulo released the defendant on personal recognizance and ordered her to not adopt any new animals and to submit to unannounced visits from animal control regarding an emotional support dog still in her custody.  The prosecutor assigned to today’s arraignment was Emma Sipperly. The next date in this case is June 23, 2020. 

This is an ongoing investigation being conducted by the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office and Tewksbury Police.

The status of Ms. Hutcheon’s position with the Council on Aging is currently under review by Town Officials.