A father and son are accused of gunning down their own dog on May 17. According to The Madison Press, Robert Schultz and his son, Nicholas, were charged with criminal trespassing after, officials said, they drove onto the property of the Battelle Institute to kill their 8-year-old Pomeranian, Sparky.
Robert Schultz also faces a cruelty to a companion animal charge, accused of shooting the dog at close range and then placing it in a sack in the back of his car while the animal was still alive and struggling, Tate reported. The incident was caught on the company's advanced surveillance system. Security guards were able to zoom in on Schultz's license plate number. Deputies quickly tracked down the suspect at his home in Hilliard, where the dog had already been buried.
"It was very upsetting to me because the way they released the dog and followed it with the rifle until they shot it. It appeared the dog possibly was not deceased yet when they placed it back in the car," said Madison County Sheriff's Office Lt. Doug Crabbe. The Schultz family told NBC 4 that the dog was making them sick with scabies, and they needed to put the dog down. They said it seemed to be the best way to do it, but the sheriff's office disagreed, saying that scabies is an easily treated skin illness. Case UpdatesA Hilliard man said he did what he had to do to help his sick pet. Now, investigators are calling it animal cruelty and said that it was all caught on tape.
Sparky, an 8-year-old Pomeranian, was part of the Schultz family for years until his owner said he developed a chronic medical condition, NBC 4's Erin Tate reported.
"It got to a point (where) he suffered all day and all night," said Ronald Schultz, the dog's owner.
Then, Schultz said his son and wife contracted scabies, and the dog may be to blame.
"We love animals. We love our pet as much as you can (love) a family member. He slept in our bed every night," Schultz said.
When their family doctor told them that they needed to get rid of the dog, Schultz said he drove his son and Sparky to a country road, where he shot the dog.
The property the family went to is part of the highly secure grounds of Battelle Institute, and the shooting was caught on tape and turned over to detectives.
The Schultz family returned home to bury Sparky and the man was charged with animal cruelty. Investigators claim that the dog was still alive and struggling in the back of Schultz's car.
"I have to stress, if you have problems with a pet, there's many ways to handle it," said Lt. Doug Crabbe of the Madison County Sheriff's office.
Schultz said he handled the shooting humanely.
Schultz and his son, Nicholas were also charged with criminal trespassing. The trial is scheduled to begin in September. | Source: NBC - July 17, 2006
Update posted on Jul 17, 2006 - 5:40PM |
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