NORTON — A Norton woman has been arrested and accused of neglecting an elderly women and two dogs.

Canda Marie Arbogast, 28, has been charged with neglect of an incapacitated adult by a caregiver, animal neglect, three counts of person prohibited from possessing firearms, and three counts of doors to be removed from abandoned refrigerators and freezers.

She was being held at the Tygart Valley Regional Jail on a $3,000 cash-only bond on the firearms charges, and a $1,500 cash-only bond on the other charges. Bond was posted and she was released.

According to the neglect criminal complaint, prepared by Deputy J. Wolfe of the Randolph County Sheriff’s Office, on March 20 at approximately 2 p.m. officers received a call to assist Randolph County EMS at a residence on River Mist Drive in Norton. An elderly female resident had “previously threatened EMS with a firearm, requiring law enforcement response,” the complaint states.

Upon entering the residence, officers “observed a deep hue of smoke filling the residence causing breathing difficulties for law enforcement and members of EMS,” the complaint states. “A large amount of smoke was emitting out of the fireplace, not exiting the chimney, and filling the residence.”

Officers observed oxygen lines leading to the elderly female resident’s bed, and “obvious signs of feces was present on” the woman’s bed, according to the complaint. The elderly woman is “unable to walk and cannot care for her own wellbeing.”

Arbogast is the elderly woman’s caretaker, the complaint states. Wolfe writes that “due to the smoke in the residence” he believed the elderly woman was “at severe risk of serious bodily injury or death.”

Officers also observed that dogs were outside the residence, according to the complaint. Inside a “small fence area with a dog house,” Wolfe writes that “the ground was covered in feces” while “one dog was chained and wrapped around a pole in the dog house.” Two feeding container were in the fenced area for the two dogs inside; one container was “full of mud” while the other “had minimal water that I believe was collected due to rain.”

According to the firearms criminal complaint, prepared by Deputy T.J. Knotts of the Randolph County Sheriff’s Office, Knotts responded along with Wolfe on March 20 at approximately 2 p.m. at a residence on River Mist Drive in Norton.

Officers learned that Arbogast was convicted in 2016 of a felony charge of fleeing from law enforcement with reckless indifference, the complaint states. Arbogast gave consent to search the residence, and officers reportedly found a .357 revolver, a Remington 870 20-gauge pump shotgun and a Remington 700 bolt action rifle.