*Update* Dog beaten with Hammer and Buried Alive

A Forest Grove man,  Hyrum F. Long, 75, and his daughter, Susan Diane Johnson beat Johnson's dog, Molly in the head with a hammer and buried her up to her neck in dirt.  They claim she was sick and they thought it was the right thing to do.  A necropsy revealed (aside from the obvious injuries) prolonged neglect and that she had not eaten in several days.  

On Dec. 8, Johnson pleaded guilty to one count of first-degree animal neglect before Washington County Circuit Judge Rick Knapp.

Knapp sentenced Johnson to 90 days in jail, followed by two years' formal probation. She was also ordered to perform 100 hours of community service and cannot own any animals for five years.

Long is scheduled to be sentenced Feb. 3.

Click here for the whole story

Click here to watch news footage from November.  

Ohio man who starved dogs, some to death, to be sentenced Jan 22.

Steven Croley, the owner of High Caliber K-9 boarding and training facility, entered a not guilty plea to animal cruelty charges. After police and humane agents found seven dead dogs, and eight starving dogs at his business earlier this week. 

"Bones, carcasses, decay, it was horrible, it was enough to make you gag and throw up and cry", says Nikole Owen, CEO of Animal Charity.

Twelve of the dogs are now recovering at Animal Charity on South Avenue, while agents try to track down the animal's owners to let them know if their pets are alive or dead.

Meanwhile, Croley's home and business on Coitsville-Hubbard Road has been hit by vandals. The words "killer" and "I kill dogs" spray painted across signs, cars and broken windows.

Croley told humane agents he couldn't afford to feed or take care of the dogs he was training and boarding, but Owen said she spoke with a couple of the dog's owners this week, and they say that's not the case.

"A woman saying that she gave him over four hundred dollars, and another woman paid him over four hundred dollars just last week. So he had money...what he did with it, I don't know, but he was not feeding the animals with it", says Owen.

Another question has to do with the charges. Croley was originally charged with nineteen counts of animal cruelty and neglect, but was arraigned on only four counts in court, and that has the folks at Animal Charity upset. Owen says,



Local prosecutors office:

Joseph "Jay" R. Macejko
4th floor city hall
26 south phelps street
Youngstown ohio 44503
PHONE: 330.742.8791
FAX: 330.742.8794

Judge Robert A. Douglas, Jr.
Youngstown Municipal Court
265 Phelps Street
Youngstown, Ohio 44503
PHONE: 330.742.8857
FAX: 330.742.8725

Email for the Judge's (Judge Robert A. Douglas, Jr.) assistant: lblum@turningpointcs.com

Contact info for the Ohio State Attorney General (Nancy H. Rogers):
PHONE: 877-244-6446
WEBSITE CONTACT FORM: http://www.ag4ohio.gov/Public/details.aspx?s=222


For more information, please visit pet-abuse.com. 

Nov 6 sentencing for Wisconsin man, Eric S. Shattuck, who tried to force his dog to drink antifreeze then hanged him.

Prosecutors say a 34-year-old Appleton, Wisconsin man hanged one of his dogs in his garage because he was angry that the animal nipped at him.

Eric S. Shattuck is scheduled to make an initial appearance Feb. 12 in Outagamie County Circuit Court.

Appleton police began an investigation Sept. 28 after learning of the dog's death from a person who was familiar with the situation. The animal was found in a garbage bag inside the garage, with a choke collar nearby. Shattuck told investigators he attempted to kill the dog Sept. 26 by mixing its water with antifreeze, but the dog refused to drink it, according to the criminal complaint. Shattuck told a police officer that he then grabbed the dog, named Swiper, by the back of the neck, took it to the garage and hanged it from the rafters by its choke collar. He told the officer that he left immediately while the dog was still breathing because he didn't want to see the animal suffer. Shattuck acknowledged kicking the dog inside the house before taking it to the garage.

If convicted of one felony count of animal mistreatment causing death, Shattuck faces up to a $10,000 fine and a combined three years and six months of prison and extended supervision.

For more on the case visit pet-abuse.com

Chained puppy dies of neglect-Sentencing Oct. 28

The Ohio woman whose German shepherd puppy died with a temperature of 106 degrees after being on a tangled chain in sweltering heat has been found guilty of animal abuse and child endangering.

Jody L. Seabolt, 48, of South Lakeview Ave., entered pleas of no contest Wednesday [Sept 3, 2008] in municipal court to the two charges. A second count of child endangering was dismissed in a plea agreement.

Judge Robert A. Douglas Jr. found Seabolt guilty, ordered a background investigation and set sentencing for Oct. 28. She faces up to nine months in jail.

After court, Seabolt had no comment.

Three of her neighbors who attended Wednesday's court hearing said they hope she is punished with the maximum time in jail.

"He was cooked alive with a temperature of 106," Detective Sgt. John Perdue said in June as he signed charges against the dog's owner. "I had half the neighborhood in my office signing complaints."

The normal temperature for a healthy dog can range from 99 to 102 degrees.

When arrested in June, Seabolt lived in a house she rented at 118 S. Portland Ave. The endangering charges related to what Patrolman Sam Mosca described as the squalid and unsafe conditions he found inside Seabolt'shome.

The children, Seabolt's 8-year-old son and 17-year-old daughter, were taken by agents from Mahoning County Children Services Board and placed temporarily with an aunt, reports show. Mosca said in his report the children were home when they should have been in school and records showed they'd been absent from school a lot.

Seabolt told The Vindicator in June she was at work when her dog was removed by neighbors and taken to a vet. She denied mistreatment of the animal, saying he had food and water but added that he sometimes would knock the dishes over.

10 dogs neglected, emaciated, one found dead » Friday, Feb 29, 2008: sentencing

Incident Date: Monday, Sep 18, 2006
Friday, Feb 29, 2008: sentencing


Chenango County Court Case # 2006-92

Douglas Arthur Haslett: CONVICTED

A Chenango County man has been convicted of abusing his animals. Sheriff's deputies say Douglas Haslett had a number of dogs at his home that were not being fed and didn't have proper shelter.

Deputies, along with animal control officers, found nine emaciated dogs and took them to an animal hospital for treatment. Deputies also found a dead dog at Haslett's home. The dog died of starvation.

This is his sentencing, please contact the judge in this case and ask for harsh sentencing.

Chenango County Office Building
5 Court Street
Norwich, NY 13815

607-337-1825
Fax 607-337-1834
e-mail: cschell@courts.state.ny.us

Chenango County Judge
Hon. W. Howard Sullivan

Five puppies abandoned in portable toilet-man and woman to plead Feb. 19

Police say they are "pleased" that charges have been laid in a disturbing case of animal cruelty that saw five puppies dumped down a roadside outhouse and left to die in southwestern Alberta.

Samantha Rieberger, 42, of Crowsnest Pass and 57-year-old Frederick Hoath of Fernie, B.C., have been charged with five counts of cruelty to animals under both the Criminal Code and Alberta's Animal Protection Act.

On Jan. 4, Crowsnest Pass RCMP responded to a frantic 911 call from a motorist who heard whimpering coming from an outdoor toilet alongside Highway 3, near the Alberta-British Columbia boundary.

They found five black Lab-cross puppies - about eight-weeks-old - in the feces-filled pit of the outhouse.

The two-hour rescue involved several agencies and contractors who worked to rescue the pups.

They had to chisel the toilet away from its concrete base to access the outhouse's holding tank to get the animals.

All of the puppies were given a clean bill of health and all have been adopted.

Alberta Transportation has sent the $800 bill for the destroyed toilet to the local Fish and Wildlife office. The RCMP has offered to pay the bill on their behalf.

"A lot of information was received from the public, and a lot of other agencies contributed to the information we were able to use," said Sgt. Scott Howard.

"As soon as we talked to the owner, we knew something wasn't right. As a result of some compelling information that we received, the grounds to pursue charges were provided to us."

The puppies' mother, along with several cats were taken from Rieberger's home by the SPCA.

Both were ordered to appear to make a plea Feb. 19.

Rieberger and Hoath are charged with five counts of cruelty to animals under the Criminal Code, as well as five counts of cruelty to animals under the Animal Protection Act.