Homeless man charged in puppy deaths

Homeless man charged in puppy deaths

youngstown

The city filed charges Thursday against a 55-year-old homeless man, who police already have in custody, for the killing of two German shepherd puppies Jan. 30 in the Federal Street boulevard in front of the Western Reserve Transit Authority.

City Prosecutor Jay Macejko said William Bednar was a person of interest almost immediately after the investigation started because he has a history of animal abuse and security cameras filmed him in the area around the time of the dog killings.

Police have charged the man with two felony counts of animal cruelty, Macejko said. He said because the dogs had collars on their necks, it led them to believe they were pets allowing authorities to up the charges to felony counts.

Bednar was arrested Wednesday after police found two syringes in a shopping cart he was pushing.

Macejko said there is no link between Bednar and the other dog abuse cases within the last few weeks.

“We are investigating those as individual cases,” Macejko said.

For more on this story, see Friday’s Vindicator or vindy.com