BOARDMAN Man pleads innocent in shooting of dog

Police said there is no report to indicate the dog had threatened anyone.
By JOHN W. GOODWIN JR.
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
BOARDMAN -- A 24-year-old township man pleaded innocent to misdemeanor charges of animal cruelty. Police say he shot his neighbor's dog Monday.
James Terranova is also charged with felony tampering with evidence, but no plea was accepted on the felony charge.
Terranova is free on $15,000 bond. He was released from Mahoning County Jail Thursday night and is due back in Boardman area court Monday.
Police say Terranova, of Shadyside Drive, shot and killed a 1-year-old German shepherd/husky mix dog named Sinatra from a second-story bedroom window of his home while the animal stood on the sidewalk across the street.
Terranova told officers the dog had been a threat to his children, but police said there is no report to indicate Sinatra had threatened anyone.
After the shooting, Terranova retrieved the dog's body and discarded it in a trash bin along South Avenue. Humane officers and police later retrieved Sinatra from the bin.
Sinatra's owner, Cathleen Ford, said the dog had managed to crawl beneath a fence in the back yard to get loose. She said she and her fianc & eacute; were out looking for the dog when he was shot and killed.
Also facing charges
In a separate case, 34-year-old North Lima resident Kenneth P. Filban is scheduled to appear in Canfield area court at noon May 13 to face charges of shooting and wounding his neighbor's pet Rottweiler with a rifle in December.
Police said Filban admitted shooting the dog. He told officers at the time that he shot the Rottweiler after the dog had attacked his own pet dog and became aggressive toward him.
The wounded dog's owner said her 1-year-old dog, named Slick, was shot through the back with the bullet exiting through his neck. She said the dog spent hours lying between her house and a set of shrubs before he was discovered.