Puppy tossed down 50 foot well Toccoa, GA (US) Incident Date: Tuesday, Apr 11, 2006 County: Stephens Local Map: available Disposition: Convicted Abuser/Suspect: Jonathon Stacey Butler Case Updates: 1 update(s) available

Case ID: 8442 Classification: Throwing Animal: dog (non pit-bull) View more cases in GA (US) Login to Watch this Case

Last week, he called authorities to report a puppy had been thrown down a well. Today, April 18, 2006, he is charged with cruelty to animals. 18-year old Jonathon Stacey Butler of 9039c Easy Street in Toccoa admitted to Stephens County Sheriff�s deputies yesterday that he was the one who threw the puppy into the well. According to Stephens County Sheriff�s office spokesperson Major Tim Jarrell, Butler became a suspect when he kept changing his story. �What he told authorities who arrived on the scene was different from what he told deputies during a follow up investigation and follow up interview,� Jarrell noted. �When we spoke to her and got statements from neighbors and got statements from them, there was a lot
of discrepancies in his stories all the way around,� he said

The puppy was one of three strays that neighbors say had been dumped on their street. Originally, Butler told deputies the puppy, which he had been feeding, had not shown up for its food last Monday morning. He said he heard its cries in the covered well while looking for it. But Jarrell says Butler�s story did not fit with the story he told dispatchers. �Mr. Butler told the dispatcher and deputies when they first arrived on the scene that he could see that the animal was taped up, his paws and his mouth and other things were taped up. When deputies arrived, they could not see in the well to determine if in fact there was any tape on the animal. And it was not until the rescuer went into the well that he was able to determine there actually was. We even used our high-powered flashlights in an attempt to see into the well and were not
even able to see,� Jarrell explained.

Butler is charged with misdemeanor animal cruelty which carries a $1000 find and up to a year in jail. The female lab mix puppy is now recovering from its ordeal in the care of the Stephens County Humane Society and will eventually be put up for adoption.

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NWNJ - April 18, 2006

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