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Three in Phoenix arrested on animal abuse charges

PHOENIX, July 16 (UPI) -- Three transient men were arrested on suspicion of animal abuse after Phoenix police said they found a dead woman and 35 sick animals in a van.

Firefighters and police officers responded to a call of a sick woman Sunday, and found Lola Mae Stout, age unavailable, dead in the van, surrounded by an assortment of caged dogs, cats and a pigeon, as well as feces, spiders and cockroaches, police documents said.

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Arizona Humane Society investigators said the animals were sick, malnourished and abused.

The occupants of the van, brothers Alan Stout, 42, and Gregory Stout, 44, and Alva Stout, 79, relationship unknown, gave conflicting accounts regarding the woman's death before they were arrested, The (Phoenix) Arizona Republic reported.

The woman was the brothers' mother, and it remains unclear how and when she died, police documents said.

The men face 35 counts of animal abuse, the newspaper said.

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