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Case #15380 Rating: 1.0 out of 5
Crated dog abandoned in garage to die
El Paso, TX (US)Incident Date: Friday, Feb 15, 2008
County: El Paso
Disposition: Convicted
Defendants/Suspects:
» Dwayne Sumter
» Tnelda Sumter - Alleged
Case Updates: 4 update(s) available
In light of the animal cruelty investigation on a Fort Bliss soldier, KFOX asked Fort Bliss officials what was being done about Dwayne Sumter, a soldier accused of leaving his pit bull alone in the garage to die last year.
In Feb. 2008, "Little Pit Girl" was found inside her owner's suitcase dead. Animal Activist Jesse Miller said dry blood was found on her gums because she chewed her way out of this crate.
"The fact that he put her in that crate to begin with and she had to chew her way out of that. We estimated that she had been there for 30 days before she actually died after putting the timeline together," said Miller.
Little Pit Girl was abandoned in the garage of an Northeast El Paso home with no food or water. The owners of the dog were charged with animal cruelty.
Currently there's an open warrant for then-Fort Bliss soldier, Dwayne Sumter and his wife Tnelda Sumter on a charge of cruelty to non-livestock animals. It's been more than a year and the warrants haven't been served. Last week another Ft. Bliss soldier was accused of killing his dog. Now, the community wants answers.
Ft. Bliss Public Affairs Director Jean Offutt released this written statement: "Senior leaders at Fort Bliss are well aware of the situation and do not condone cruelty to animals. There have been two cases within the past year involving Soldiers and animal abuse. One of these Soldiers, Dwayne Sumter, has relocated to another installation and the local District Attorney's Office has issued a warrant for his arrest. The unit commander at his new duty station has also been notified. Any further action on this case cannot be brought to closure by any entity at Fort Bliss."
While looking into Sumter's background, KFOX discovered he was accused of a domestic violence assault on his wife. The district attorney's office confirmed that Sumter is wanted to resolve this assault case as well.
KFOX asked Offutt what Ft. Bliss officials doing to help bring Sumter back to El Paso so he can be served with these open warrants. In an email she wrote, "Sumter departed Fort Bliss and left the animal. The incident happened in El Paso, not on Fort Bliss, we do not have any jurisdiction in the city.
Fort Bliss may be acting within the law, but as far as some members of this community are concerned, it's not enough.
"They have a very high domestic violence issue right now. I think these dogs are getting caught in the line of fire, for lack of better words," said Miller, "The army has to deal with it. They have to prosecute these soldiers. They have to do something to not only punish them but also look at the situation in general."
Case UpdatesAfter 40 minutes of negotiating outside the courtroom between lawyers with District Attorney's Office and Sgt. Dwayne Sumter's lawyer, the former Fort Bliss soldier enters two guilty pleas.
Thirty-year-old Sumter went before Judge Julie Gonzalez and said he failed to report to his probation officer, failed to comply with family counseling and is guilty of animal cruelty charges.
"He took accountability for his actions and we believe the court was just today," said Sumpter's attorney, Jorge Rivas.
The judge sentenced him to 120 days in county jail to be served on the weekends. As KFOX reported, Sumter was placed on probation after an assault against his wife in March of 2007. When he was charged for animal cruelty for leaving his pit bull to die in his garage, he violated his probation once again. KFOX asked Rivas why Sumter abandoned his dog.
"Here's the point. There are a lot of mitigating circumstances and a lot of things that were actually happening during that time. It was tragic," said Rivas.
KFOX asked Sumter himself for answers but he didn't want to talk. Sumter will begin his 120-day sentence on Sept. 26. | Source: KFOX - Sept 18, 2009
Update posted on Sep 20, 2009 - 7:26PM |
A Fort Bliss soldier accused of animal cruelty was arraigned in court on Friday.
Authorities found a dead pit bull inside the garage of Sgt. Dwayne Sumter's home in 2008.
The soldier was reportedly deployed to Iraq and allegedly left the dog locked up in a crate. The animal was able to chew its way out but died in a suitcase.
Sumter returned in April and turned himself in to the Sheriff's Office for questioning.
Sumter is due back in court on July 16. | Source: KVIA - June 5, 2009
Update posted on Jun 6, 2009 - 10:41PM |
Sgt. Dwayne Sumter is accused of keeping his dog in a crate in the garage without food or water for about a month.
After KFOX broke the story last month about the outstanding warrants for Sumter, which included animal cruelty, word quickly spread to Sumter's command in Maryland that the sergeant had to get back to El Paso to answer some questions.
Fourteen months after allegedly leaving his dog alone to die, Sumter came to El Paso on Friday to turn himself in.
"Sgt. Dwayne Sumter voluntarily reported to the El Paso Sheriff's Department to answer questions for the district attorney's office," said Maj. Joe Scrocca of the U.S. Army 20th Support Command.
His dog, Little Pit Girl, was found in February 2008. According to a complaint affidavit obtained by KFOX, the dog was left in a garage without access to food, abandoned, and confined to a kennel for an unreasonable length of time.
Animal activist Jessie Miller said Little Pit Girl had dry blood on her gums because she said the dog chewed her way out of the kennel.
"The fact that he put her in that crate to begin with and she had to chew her way out of that. We estimated that she had been there for 30 days before she actually died," Miller told KFOX on March 27 when we broke the story.
Sumter was in Iraq with the 20th Support Command when he got the call to come back to the States.
"Sgt. Sumter returned earlier this week, I can't give you the exact day, to the United States, and a member of our command escorted him down to El Paso," said Scrocca.
Sumter was also wanted on charges of violating his parole on a domestic violence assault charge against his wife. But since he hasn't been convicted on either of the two warrants, the military won't take any action yet.
"He's due to be released, where he will go back to Fort Hood, retrieve his belongings, and then he will report back to Fort Bliss," Scrocca told KFOX.
Army officials said he will be at Ft. Bliss until the charges are resolved. Sumter will have to report weekly to a probation officer in El Paso, and his next court date is expected to be in June. | Source: KFOX - April 17, 2009
Update posted on Apr 20, 2009 - 9:29AM |
For the first time since KFOX has been reporting about the animal cruelty cases, a Fort Bliss official has addressed the issues on camera.
Fort Bliss Garrison Commander, Col. Ed Manning, addressed the open warrant against Dwayne Sumter, the soldier who allegedly left his pit bull in his garage to die.
Lil' Pitgirl was allegedly left alone in a garage with no food or water for approximately 30 days before she died. Her owners, Dwayne and Tnelda Sumter, have open warrants on animal cruelty charges. Manning was asked what the post is doing to help serve the warrant.
"That is a civilian warrant. You would have to ask the El Paso authorities and the district attorney to see what they would do with that," said Manning.
The animal cruelty incident happened in Feb. 2008, by that time the Sumter's had moved to Fort Hood in Central Texas.
KFOX called Fort Hood officials who said Dwayne Sumter was deployed to Iraq and arrived there last week. He's with the 20th Support Command which deployed out of Maryland. Now, a commander's inquiry is being conducted. That got started last week, even though the incident happened more than a year ago.
"When I became aware that he had a warrant, I made sure that the current chain of command of this soldier knew what's going on," said Manning. "When was that? Last Week?" asked a KFOX reporter. "At some point, that's right," he replied.
Only after KFOX began reporting on the story two weeks ago did Army officials begin to take action.
"The 20th Support Command was just made aware of that incident shortly after the story came out in late March," said Bruce Zielsdorf, the deputy director for public affairs at Fort Hood. | Source: KFOX - March 31, 2009
Update posted on Mar 31, 2009 - 9:43PM |
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