Former owner pleads guilty to abandoning Golden Retriever with 42-pound tumor in Newport Beach

NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. -- (LA Times/KTLA) -- The former owner of a golden retriever named Henry, who last year was left at a Newport Beach animal hospital while stricken with a 42-pound malignant tumor, was sentenced Thursday to three years' informal probation.

Sherri Haughton, 53, of Irvine also was sentenced to 56 hours of community service and ordered to pay $7,346 in restitution to the Newport Beach Police Department's Animal Services and the Pick A Pet Foundation for Henry's veterinary care.

In addition, she was ordered to attend a 16-week animal neglect prevention program and prohibited from owning, caring for or living with an animal, according to the Orange County district attorney's office.

Haughton was sentenced immediately after pleading guilty Thursday in Orange County Superior Court to one count of failing to care for an animal and a count of animal abandonment, both misdemeanors. Two other misdemeanor charges were dismissed, according to court records.