Pit-bull burned, left to die Trenton, NJ (US)Incident Date: Monday, Apr 19, 2004 County: Mercer
Disposition: Alleged
Alleged: » Ruth Koch » Eric Pullen
Case Updates: 4 update(s) available
Two Trenton residents have been charged in the cruelty case of "Peanut," the puppy pit bull doused with boiling water and left to wander the streets dying in April of 2004.
Two suspects, Ruth Koch and Eric Pullen, ages unknown, of the 0-to-100 block Breunig Avenue, are scheduled to go on trial at 8:30 a.m. April 21 on three animal cruelty counts each:
- Cruelty that caused an injury, for which each could receive a $2,500 fine and up to six months in jail if convicted;
- Cruelty in general for not providing veterinary care, with a sentence of up to a $1,000 fine and 30 days in jail if convicted,
- And abandoning a domestic animal, for which conviction brings a $250 fine.
This is according to Eric Maldonado, manager at the Trenton Animal Shelter in the city�s Bureau of Animal Control, who worked the case with investigators Bryain Jenkins and Dennis Sullivan.
Peanut was so named after a group of workers spotted the starving, horribly injured animal wandering around behind Capital Health Systems at Mercer hospital, and lured him into nurse Dawn Tucker�s car with peanut butter cookies.
They believed chemicals had been poured over Peanut�s neck and back, that burned through his fur and layers of skin down to the tissue, exposing the already emaciated puppy�s ribcage and causing his scorched skin to peel away.
"We were appalled," Tucker said last year. "His skin was falling off. We were all horrified. It looked like someone tried to skin him alive. We couldn�t imagine how it happened."
The puppy was rushed to the Animal Emergency and Critical Care Service in Langhorne, Pa., the only 24-hour facility of its kind in the area.
Animal-lovers read Peanut�s story, and donated over $12,000 toward saving him. He now lives the life of a pampered Snoopy after being adopted by a Coatesville, Pa., couple.
Maldonado was asked how authorities located the suspects.
"There had been a previous call that day of a stray dog in the 400 block of Rutherford Avenue," he said. "When we went to the neighborhood and asked around, we found the dog had belonged to the people at [a house in the 400 block of] Rutherford, and that they had moved out that very day.
"So we contacted the landlord, and got their names off a copy of the lease," Maldonado said. "There was a lot of work to get them traced down, but we located them at the home they moved to on Breunig Avenue.
"They gave us stories that they gave the dog away, that they never saw the dog again, but other witnesses said they hadn�t, and a month ago they admitted it was their dog, and they had moved out the same day," he said.
"Another witness informed us that boiling water had been poured on the dog," he said. "No reason was given."
An attempt to get comment from the couple at their "new" address on Breunig revealed an obviously empty, locked house, and an official sign notifying tenants they had been evicted by Superior Court order -- ripped down and tossed in the dirt. The next-door neighbor said she knew nothing of them.
Meanwhile, those who had nursed Peanut back to health were happy that suspects had been charged.
"I think that�s fabulous, because normally these people don�t always get caught," said Donna Steckley, practice manager for the animal hospital in Langhorne.
"Hopefully, they will be able to prosecute," she said. "When it comes down to animal cruelty, it was personally the worst I�ve ever seen. We�ve had a cat set on fire,but this was pretty incomprehensible."
She keeps track of Peanut and his new owners, Amy and Sebastian Musumeci of Coatesville, Pa.
"(Peanut) is doing fabulous," Steckley said. "He�s starting to grow back some peach fuzz (on the burned areas)."
She said over $8,000 of the donations went to the Langhorne hospital for weeks of care, to Trenton Animal Control, and to Peanut�s regular veterinarian for continuing care.
"We�ve used the rest for other animals -- another Trenton dog that was hit by a car, we fixed it up and adopted it out," Steckley said. "A cat was hit by a car."
The loving nurse who first came toPeanut�s aid, Dawn Tucker, said, "I�m very thankful for the way things turned out. The outpouring of love and concern went to help a few other animals as well, and the money is still coming in. One nice lady came in, she had lost her dog, and she donated a lot."
Matt Stanton, spokesman for the N.J. Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, was delighted that criminal charges had been filed.
"Obviously, they are a step in the right direction," he said. "Some people think we just issue tickets. One thing people don�t understand is that just because it�s animal cruelty doesn�t mean we put it on the side. We always get our man.
"I assume," he added, "that the judge isn�t going to be too nice. I assume the judge is looking at the maximum."
Case UpdatesPeanut the pit bull was in such pain from his wounds that the veterinarian and assistants taking care of him had to anesthetize him every time they went to dress his wounds. That�s what veterinarian Janice Wilson Haines testified to on the stand in Trenton Municipal Court yesterday. "He appeared to me to be in excruciating pain. He was so afraid and pained that we couldn�t handle him. We had to anesthetize him to treat his wounds," Haines said during direct questioning by Prosecutor Reed Gusciora.
"He had a lot of red weepy, bleeding wounds and scabbing across his back and down his legs. I thought it looked like a chemical was poured on his back because I saw drips in his wounds." Haines said the dog�s wounds were between two and five days old.
The dog�s owners Ruth Koch and Eric Pullen are on trial for not providing the dog with the proper care and face a possible $3,000 fine and between one to six months in jail each if convicted. The pit bull was seen, injured and starving in the parking lot of Capital Health System Mercer by then emergency room nurse Dawn Tucker on April 22, 2004. Tucker testified that she lured the skinny but gentle pooch into her car with a peanut butter cookie. "First I fed him and then took him to a 24-hour emergency vet in Langhorne, (Pa.) We named him Peanut," Tucker said.
When news of the dog�s plight got out, donations were pouring in from all over the country to cover the cost of his care, she said, which totaled $24,000. Peanut�s recovery at the hospital took a month, Haines said, before he was adopted by Amy Musumeci, of West Chester, Pa.
Gusciora then put Brian K. Jenkins,an officer with Trenton�s Bureau of Animal Control on the stand. He testified that he received a tip from an unidentified person that the dog�s owners lived at 444 Rutherford Ave., located behind the hospital. When he went there he saw a dog cage in the kitchen and signs that a dog was there. "I then went to where the owners moved on Brueing Avenue," Jenkins said. "They said ...on May 20, 2004 ...they owned the dog ...but that they lost the dog on April 22, the day they moved. They said they lived in West Trenton. "Why look for the dog?"
"I charged them with not providing veterinary care ...because they had the dog a number of days and didn�t take him to a vet while he was in their care."
Pullen�s defense attorney Andrea Salmon asked Jenkins on cross examination if the couple told him that another family member, named Marlin Baldwin, injured the dog. "I don�t know who injured the dog," Jenkins replied. He said he only charged them with not providing care not for the injury. Stuart Goldman, an animal cruelty investigator with the New Jersey SPCA testified that he was called into the investigation. He said he issued the couple a disorderly person complaint for failure to provide the dog the necessary sustenance. "These people had custody of the animal when the injuries occurred," Goldman testified. "This was an act of omission. I issued three citations, one for April 19, April 20 and April 21 (the days while the injured dog was in the custody of the couple) based on the expert testimony."
It was then that Koch�s defense attorney Arthur Swidler wanted to know if there was a report available on the investigation. One was handed to him and Judge Paul D. McLemore continued the trial so Swidler could review the report.
The new trial date is Wednesday, Nov. 23 at 3 p.m. in the Municipal Court located on Clinton Avenue. It�s the second time the case has been continued.
"It�s very frustrating. It�s very hard to hear what happened to the animal," said Musumeci. "We need to make a big deal of this because if they can do this to a dog, what would they do to a child?" | Source: Trentonian - November 17, 2005 Update posted on Nov 17, 2005 - 3:24PM |
Ruth Kock and Eric Pullen went on trial Wednesday, facing animal neglect charges in connection with the horrible scalding of Peanut the pitbull.
Peanut was found wandering in Trenton last April and was rescued by a nurse who rushed him to a Langhorne Vet.
Officials don't know who actually scalded the dog or with what. An animal control officer testified an informant said it was a relative of the couple. Koch and Pullen have been charged for failing to get the animal treatment.
Peanut has largely recovered, though her back still bears terrible scars. She's been adopted and is living happily now with a West Chester couple.
The trial will conclude next Wednesday. Its unclear if the dog owners will take the stand in their own defense. | Source: ABC 6 - Nov 16, 2005 Update posted on Nov 16, 2005 - 6:57PM |
Assistant Prosecutor Reed Gusciora had all of his witnesses lined up in court and submitted all of the veterinarian care records to the public defender prior to trial.
But a glitch emerged as they were preparing to start the trial yesterday in Trenton Municipal Court -- the defense lawyers didn�t have the official credentials from the prosecution�s expert witness.
Veterinarian Janice Wilson Haines quickly had her office fax over a copy of her license and resume and it was handed to defense attorney Lee Waring minutes before the trial was to start.
"We are not prepared to move forward with this case until we get the credentials so we can match them to an expert witness for the defense," Waring told Judge Paul D. McLemore.
Facing trial were Ruth Koch and Eric Pullen, of Brueing Avenue, who owned Peanut on April 21 and 22, 2004, when the pit bull was scalded possibly with a chemical on his back and neck and didn�t take the injured animal to a vet.
Instead they allegedly allowed the dog to wander the streets of the city for days.
"As reluctant as I am to do this ... as a jurist, I can�t go on with this trial when all of the expert witnesses are not here," McLemore said. "This matter will be tried."
He adjourned the trial and rescheduled it for Nov. 16 at 12:30 in the court located on Clinton Avenue next to Trenton police headquarters.
The horribly injured Peanut was spotted by Capital Health System at Mercer nurse Dawn Tucker behind the facility close to death and bleeding from open wounds on his back, left shoulder and neck.
Tucker lured the poor starving pooch into her car with a peanut butter cookie and drove the dog to a 24-hour emergency vet in Langhorne, Pa.
"At first he was on the back seat of my car but he was uncomfortable," Tucker said waiting for the trial to start.
"He ended up on the front seat next to me and put his head on my lap. He was so sweet."
It took weeks and more than $24,000 -- paid for by animal lovers across the country who sent in donations -- to heal the dog, said Haines.
He was adopted by Amy and Sebastian Musumeci, of West Chester, Pa., and today is a healthy, happy-go-lucky puppy.
Koch and Pullen were charged with cruelty to animals in general for not providing veterinarian care, cruelty that caused an injury and abandoning a domestic animal.
If found guilty on all charges, they each face a $3,000 fine and one to six months in jail, said Stuart Goldman, special investigator with the SPCA. | Source: Trentonian - Sept 15, 2005 Update posted on Sep 19, 2005 - 10:15PM |
A special investigator for the state Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals yesterday filed three more charges against the city couple accused of cruelty to Peanut the puppy pit bull a year ago.
Peanut was found bleeding from torn skin all over his neck and back after having boiling water poured on him last April.
His owners, Ruth Koch and Eric Pullen, were to go on trial yesterday in municipal court on three animal cruelty and abandonment charges that had already been filed against them by the city�s Bureau of Animal Control.
But then Stuart Goldman, special investigator for the SPCA, charged each suspect with three more counts of failing to provide veterinary care on April 19, 20 and 21, 2004, and the suspects were arraigned on those counts.
Judge Louis Sancinto then postponed the trial and set a plea conference for May 26 on all six related charges.
Public defenders H. Lee Wearing and Rodney Thompson pleaded the defendants not guilty, after which they were released on their own recognizance.
Peanut was wandering the streets near death last April, when workers spotted the starving, horribly injured animal behind Capital Health Systems at Mercer.
Nurse Dawn Tucker lured him into her car with peanut butter cookies.
Peanut was treated at a 24-hour emergency animal hospital in Langhorne, Pa., and readers sent in $12,000 to pay for his recovery.
The dog lives the good life now with his adopted owners, Amy and Sebastian Musumeci of Coatesville, Pa.
Amy Musumeci was in court, watching as the indignant Goldman "represented" her dog.
"For an animal that was blistered and bloody and crying in pain like this animal," Goldman said later, "and you do nothing about it -- that�s a pretty nasty crime."
"The SPCA is looking to put some people in jail here," he said. "This is outrageous."
Goldman said the couple -- which was in the process of moving -- admit owning the dog on the day it was picked up.
"And I want to prove that dog was blistered and burnt and suffering for days before they moved out," he said.
Phone calls to the public defenders were not returned yesterday.
"Crimes like this are not just crimes against an animal," said Goldman. "These are crimes against society. These are crimes against anybody that�s decent. That�s what this comes down to. This is not just a crime against this one poor animal."
The dog�s ordeal drew the attention of the media, as Channel 10 TV News showed up at the court appearance.
"Who called all this publicity?" one of the public defenders said, according to Goldman.
"I said, �Don�t look at me; I�m just here doing my job,�" Goldman said.
"He (the public defender) goes, �We have crime here, people being stabbed, people being cut with knives and razors, and they�re (the media) not here for that.� He said, �What�s the big deal about this? This is a dog here,� " Goldman recalled.
"I said, �Look, this is your town. When people see this going on in their town, they�re not comfortable. They don�t feel safe. They don�t like it. And I�m here to speak for this animal. So don�t worry about the television, don�t worry about the press. Let�s get to the case here.�"
The three SPCA charges could bring sentences of six months in jail, from $250 to $1,000 fine, and up to 30 days in jail upon conviction, he said.
Prosecuting for the city is Bob Yostembski. Appearing for the Bureau of Animal Control was supervisor Bryain Jenkins and Eric Maldonado, manager of the Trenton Animal Shelter.
The three city charges on each defendant are cruelty that caused an injury (a $2,500 fine and up to six month in jail), cruelty in general for not providing veterinary care (a fine of up to $1,000, and up to six months), and abandoning a domestic animal, a $250 fine. | Source: The Trentonian - April 22, 2005 Update posted on Apr 23, 2005 - 10:52AM |
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