The charge of cruelty to a companion animal had been a first-first degree misdemeanor for years, with a maximum sentence of 180 days behind bars. Now classified as a felony, the charge carries a sentence of up to 12 months in prison.
“This will be the first case. We will see how it goes,” said Kurt Merbs, county deputy dog warden supervisor.
Butler County Prosecutor Michael Gmoser said that while most people convicted of a fifth-degree felony do not receive a prison sentence, he believes judges will look at an animal cruelty case differently than someone convicted of other fifth-degree felonies, such as marijuana possession.
Stiffer penalties, he said, are a deterrent to crime.
“And I happen to believe in imposing a prison sentence as a deterrent,” Gmoser said, adding he has seen the link between abusing animals and abusing people.
“It is not a big jump from being cruel to an animal to cruelty to people. We see it all the time,” Gmoser said.
A study by Northeastern University and the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals found 70 percent of those who committed crimes against animals had also been involved in other violent, property, drug or disorderly crimes.
And according to the Animal Legal Defense Fund, animal abuse can be a predictor that a person could abuse people, if they haven’t done so already.
“Several academic studies have found a clear link between animal cruelty during youth and violence against humans as an adult. This link is so well established, profilers routinely use animal cruelty reports in their assessment of the possible threat criminals pose,” according to a report by the California-based animal advocacy group.
Minnick’s Drive Thru employee Jen Richey called the dog warden in September after a dog, between 9 to 12 years old, came to the Hamilton drive-thru looking starved. She fed the brown pitbull mix Slim Jims and dog biscuits and gave it some water.
A post on the Butler County Dog Warden’s Facebook page yielded several tips and led Merbs to North and Sears
According to Merbs, the couple said that each time they fed the dog it “would go throw up and just lay around.”
But they never sought medical treatment for the dog, according to Merbs.
“They said that somebody left their basement door open and the dog went down through the basement and just wandered off,” he said.
The dog, later named Duke by those who tried to save him, did not survive. After weeks of treatment, he was euthanized last month, according to the dog warden’s office.
North and Sears are scheduled to be arraigned Nov. 22. North also faces three counts of failure to file for registration of a dog, which is a minor misdemeanor.
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