Firefighter kills pets to avoid kennel fees

COLUMBUS DISPATCH

COLUMBUS — A Columbus firefighter admitted Wednesday to securing his two dogs in his basement and blasting them with a rifle so he and a girlfriend could vacation without paying to board the animals.

“He said chunks of concrete were flying everywhere,” Assistant Franklin County Prosecutor Heather Robinson said.

“I think it was the thrill of the kill for him. He has shown no remorse for this.”

Firefighter David P. Santuomo, 43, pleaded guilty to two counts of animal cruelty and one count of possession of a criminal tool for taping a 2-liter plastic bottle onto the gun as a makeshift silencer.

He was convicted of “needlessly killing ... a companion animal” Dec. 3, according to the charges filed 10 minutes before the hearing in municipal court. One dog was shot six times in the head.

Santuomo, who did not apologize or give a statement in court, will spend 90 days in jail and pay $4,500 in restitution while serving five years’ probation, Judge Harland H. Hale ruled.

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