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Case #9454 Rating: 2.8 out of 5
Puppies neglected, burned remains found
Plainfield, IL (US)Incident Date: Tuesday, Aug 1, 2006
County: Will
Charges: Misdemeanor
Disposition: Convicted
Defendant/Suspect: Robert Griffin
Case Updates: 5 update(s) available
Robert Griffin spent 23 years as an employee in Stateville prison until he was made the assistant warden of programs at Pontiac Correctional Center in April 2005.
Nearly a year and a half later, Griffin still lives in a house on Stateville property and he commutes to his job at the prison in Pontiac. He pays $137.50 a month rent to keep this house on Illinois 53 just north of Caton Farm Road, said Derek Schnapp, a spokesman for the Department of Corrections. The rent charged by the state is figured to be about 125 percent of the utilities.
The house Griffin lives in is one of those on the grounds of prisons set aside by corrections for the department's management staff.
"We reserve that type of housing for IDOC personnel who would be on immediate call," Schnapp explained.
So Griffin apparently gets to live for $137.50 a month in a two-story house at Stateville so he can be on "immediate call" for his job at Pontiac. And this is a good idea, because when they need you in an emergency and you are 60 miles or so away, you better be on "emergency call."
In back of this house on the Stateville grounds is a chain link pen with a few plastic doghouses and pails filled with putrid, brown water. This pen stinks of feces and up until Aug 1, there were five dogs in there as well. One of them was dead and the other four were not doing very well as they sat covered in flies and baking in their own filth under the July sun.
As bad as the stench was coming from the dogpen, there was something infinitely more foul to the north and behind the Stateville house rented by the assistant warden of programs from a prison an hour or so away. You followed the smell, if you could stand it, and you came upon what appeared to be the remains of a dog that had been burned. What was left of it was crawling with maggots.
An officer from Joliet Township Animal Control found the decaying dog when he lifted up a trash can behind Griffin's house. He was on the property to check out a report of neglected dogs and followed his nose to the rotted remains. He picked up the garbage can and it suddenly smelled much worse. Then he saw the dog and a motor oil container and all of those maggots.
Griffin insists this is not a dog at all but a coyote his dogs had killed. One of the state animal abuse investigators on the case believes otherwise.
"The skull matches the size of the puppies," the investigator said. He also questions how the dogs managed to set the "coyote" on fire and place it under a garbage can with a motor oil container.
Between the dead dog in the chain link pen, the live ones cooking away in the heat and the mystery animal burned up and rotting a few yards from his house and stinking all the way to Route 53, you have to wonder what's going on at the Stateville home of the Pontiac assistant warden of programs.
For a man who has spent so much time overseeing criminals kept in captivity, you have to hope he did a better job with the prisoners than the pit bulls. Yesterday he was still working his day job down in Pontiac, the one that has him overseeing programs for the convicts.
"So far, so good," he said of the day after a state trooper, animal control officers and animal abuse investigators were poking around the property he rents from the state.
The state says Pontiac houses about 600 more prisoners than its design capacity. It holds the prisoners condemned to death since Governor Ryan commuted the sentences of everyone on death row three years ago, and it incarcerates "problematic offenders in disciplinary segregation," according to the department of corrections.
But as bad as Pontiac sounds, it must seem like a luxury hotel compared to the cage where Griffin kept his dogs in his back yard at Stateville. At least you have to hope so, that the inmates are not sleeping in their own feces, drinking muddy water, that they can get out of the sun and heat once in a while.
Case UpdatesPontiac prison warden Robert Griffin pleaded guilty to animal cruelty charges on July 26, 2007.
The charges stem from August 1, 2006, when authorities responded to Griffin's home on Stateville grounds. According to reports, officers found five dogs inside a pen with pails of putrid water. One of the dogs was already dead. The other four were in poor condition, reportedly covered with flies and baking in their own filth under the hot sun.
Also found were the remains of a dog that had been burned, crawling with maggots.
An officer from Joliet Township Animal Control reportedly found the decaying dog when he lifted up a trash can behind Griffin's house.
Although Griffin insisted that the burned animal was a coyote his dogs had killed, the investigator questioned how the dogs managed to set the "coyote" on fire and place it under a garbage can with a motor oil container.
According to court records, Robert Griffin was convicted of misdemeanor animal cruelty, and he was given a 60-day suspended jail sentence. Conditions of his two-year probation include submitting to a psychological evaluation, paying fines, and paying restitution to animal control. He is also prohibited from owning companion animals and from carrying a firearm.
It is unknown whether the conviction will prevent him from continuing to work at the prison. | Source: Case #07-CM720
Update posted on Jul 31, 2007 - 8:10PM |
The assistant warden of an Illinois prison who has been accused of abusing five dogs appeared in court on June 4 for a pretrial hearing in Will County Judge Marilee Viola's courtroom.
Robert Griffin, 56, of 25324 Government Lane, Crest Hill, was charged in February by state police with misdemeanor counts of cruelty to animals and failure to care for animals.
Although he worked at Stateville Correctional Center for many years, Griffin became the assistant warden of programs at Pontiac Correctional Center in 2005.
Griffin didn't give the pit bull dogs food and clean water, according to the criminal complaint. When they were suffering and needed veterinary care, he didn't provide that either, according to the complaint.
On Aug. 1, investigators found five living dogs confined in a filthy pen at Griffin's home on the grounds of Stateville. They also found two dead dogs. Although Griffin said he fed them twice a day, the investigators removed the animals from the property.
On April 20, an official from the Will County State's Attorney's office asked Viola to appoint a special prosecutor to the case to avoid any conflict of interest or appearance of impropriety. The judge agreed, and Charles M. Colburn, a Springfield-based lawyer in the 3rd District Appellate Court, is now prosecuting the case. | Source: Herald News - May 16, 2007
Update posted on Jun 8, 2007 - 1:02PM |
After a lengthy investigation, Robert Griffin is now facing misdemeanor charges of animal neglect.
The charges against Griffin, a prison warden at Pontiac Correctional Center, stem from the alleged neglect of four pit bulls and death of two other dogs.
According to reports, Griffin was living on state-owned property in August 2006 when authorities found 5 dogs in filthy, feces-filled pens. One of them was already dead.
In addition, the maggot-filled body of another dog that appeared to have been set on fire was found underneath a garbage can near a motor oil container.
A pre-trial hearing has been scheduled for June 4, 2007 at 9:00 a.m. | Source: Will County Case #07-CM720
Update posted on May 11, 2007 - 3:05PM |
| Pet-Abuse.Com was contacted by the Will County State's Attorney's Office on October 23. They informed us that this case is still under investigation and a decision regarding charges has not been made yet, however charges are still possible depending upon the outcome of the investigation. | Source: Will County State's Attorney's Office
Update posted on Oct 23, 2006 - 1:17PM |
County: Will
Docket # NOT CHARGED
Court: NONE
Contact - James W. Glasgow
State's Attorney of Will County
121 N. Chicago Street
Joliet, IL 60432
FAX: 815-727-8405
Defendant' Employer:
Roger E. Walker Jr, Director
Illinois Department of Corrections
1301 Concordia Court
P.O. Box 19277
Springfield, IL 62794-9277
FAX: (217) 522-8719 | | Update posted on Oct 15, 2006 - 9:11PM |
References
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