SUFFOLK COUNTY, N.Y. — An employee of a facility training guide dogs is facing criminal charges for leaving one of the animals in a hot car for hours, causing its death.

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Investigators with the Suffolk County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals announced the charges against Jodi Meyers in a news release. Meyers is charged with animal cruelty and failing to provide proper shelter and aid for Milton, a 3-year-old black Labrador retriever.

Milton was at the Guide Dog Foundation, where Meyers is employed, to get additional training. His owner, Michelle Krupa, has a rare genetic disease that affects her vision and hearing, and said in July that Milton had been learning to sit still in a classroom, as we reported at the time.

SPCA investigators said that Meyers had taken the dog out for training, but instead left the dog in a crate inside a van for 5 1/2 hours when the temperature outside was approximately 90 degrees.

In a statement to WPIX in July, the Guide Dog Foundation said: “The Guide Dog Foundation offers Michelle and her family our full support if and when Michelle is ready to be matched with a successor dog. … The Guide Dog Foundation has been taking immediate steps to review this tragic event to mitigate the potential of this ever happening again.”

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