A former Texas A&M veterinarian and professor is the first faculty member at the vet college to face criminal charges.
On Wednesday, a Brazos County district court jury took 63 minutes to find Ashlee Watts guilty of Livestock Cruelty. Punishment on the felony crime ranges from probation to two years in a state jail. A sentencing hearing has been set for December 6, 2024.
Watts was convicted of what the indictment says is intentionally and knowingly torturing a horse through the excessive use of an electrical device. Watts was treating the horse at the A&M vet hospital in December of 2019.
A statement from the dean of the vet college said in part, “That the incident involving Watts does not in any way represent the care that is given to the nearly 27 thousand animals who visit A&M’s small and large animal teaching hospitals each year.”
Ashlee Watts Mugshot from Arrest on October 25, 2021