 Six puppies abandoned in box
Sandusky, OH (US)Incident Date: Sunday, Jan 2, 2005
County: Erie
Local Map: available
Disposition: Convicted
Abuser/Suspect: Lea K. Bullion
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A Perkins Township woman pleaded no contest and was found guilty of six counts of cruelty to animals for taping up six puppies in two boxes and leaving them in front of a Bogart Road house, according to records from Sandusky Municipal Court and the Erie County dog warden.
Lea K. Bullion, 34, also pleaded no contest and was found guilty of six counts of abandoning companion animals for dumping the rottweiler-mix puppies, according to the ruling from Municipal Judge Erich J. O'Brien. She was referred to the court's probation office for a presentence investigation before a sentencing next month.
Instead of abandoning the pups, Bullion could have taken them to the dog warden or the Humane Society of Erie County, said county Dog Warden Barb Knapp.
''From where she lives and where we are, there's options,'' Knapp said. ''It just didn't make sense.''
The charges came after a sequence of events that started Dec. 26, 2004, when a Perkins police Sgt. Todd Curtis found a hound-mix that was badly hurt from being hit by a car on US 250, Knapp said.
While Curtis was investigating, a woman stopped to help and then bought a muzzle for the dog, which was trying to bite, Knapp said. They were able to transport the dog to the county pound, where they met a deputy dog warden.
The dog was taken to the Society for the Protection of Animals in Fremont, where the dog's life was saved, Knapp said. The dog, later found to be named Buttercup, eventually ended up at the veterinary hospital at Ohio State University for treatment, she said.
Perkins police began circulating the dog's picture to raise money that would pay for its care, Knapp said.
On Jan. 2, a Perkins Township man reported finding six puppies taped up in boxes near the driveway of his Bogart Road home, Knapp said.
''He thought somebody had thrown trash out,'' Knapp said. ''He went to pick them up and throw them out and heard the crying inside.''
The puppies had no food or water in the boxes, but generally were in good health, so a deputy dog warden brought them to the county pound.
Five days later, another Perkins Township woman called Knapp, saying she had seen the picture police were circulating and recognized Buttercup as a neighborhood dog she used to feed and play with.
Mary Ann Leone, a resident of Sandusky, saw the photo of one of the dogs in the Sandusky Register and immediately called the SPA. She said she recognized the dog and that she had belonged to her neighbor and was neglected for a long time.
She also told the SPA that the day before there was an article in the Sandusky Register stating that 6 pups had been found along Milan Road, taped shut in two boxes. According to the SPA, she "put two and two together" and thought that maybe these were the six pups that seemed to be missing from her neighbor's residence along with Olivia (the mother dog). She said the pups, according to the article, had been taken to the pound.
The SPA asked her to go to the pound to identify the puppies, and that if she were willing to testify, and if her testimony led to the arrest and conviction of these pups, that S.P.A. would award her $1,000 from their special Animal Abuse Fund for information leading to the arrest and conviction of anyone guilty of animal abuse.
On Thursday, Erie County sheriff's deputies served the charges and Bullion entered the pleas in court yesterday, according to court records.
The puppies have been adopted; Buttercup, which had a license, but no dog tag, is in foster care and still needs a new permanent home, Knapp said Neighborhood MapFor more information about the Interactive Animal Cruelty Maps, see the map notes.
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