Wednesday, September 28, 2016
By Ed Runyan
WARREN
The Warren Police Department expected to file a criminal charge by today in Trumbull County Juvenile Court against a boy, 16, accused of having sexual contact with a dog.
It is likely that the boy, whose name was not provided by police, will be the first person charged under Warren’s new, first-in-Ohio bestiality ordinance.
A Warren police report says a detective was called to Trumbull County Children Services at noon Monday because of what the report called “cruelty to animals.” The report said the conduct occurred Sept. 16 at a home in the 800 block of Homewood Avenue Southeast.
Detective Nick Carney, who investigates most cases involving juveniles, spoke with the suspect late Tuesday afternoon but had not yet filed charges.
Warren City Council passed legislation June 22 that makes having sex with animals – known as bestiality – illegal. Warren was the first city in Ohio to enact such legislation, though 39 other states have a bestiality law.
Under the ordinance, such conduct is a first-degree misdemeanor punishable by up to six months in jail for an adult. It is not known whether the penalty is different for a juvenile.
The subject of bestiality took on new significance in Warren after Salvador Rendon, 61, of Warren was charged with animal cruelty in April after family members accused him of having sex repeatedly with two boxer dogs owned by his daughter at his home on Ward Avenue Northwest.
Rendon later pleaded no contest in Warren Municipal Court to one count of animal cruelty and was sentenced to 12 days in the Trumbull County Jail in addition to the 18 days already served.
Municipal Judge Thomas Gysegem also ordered Rendon to have no contact with animals during the five years of his probation.
Rendon appears again in Warren Municipal Court on Oct. 4 for a hearing at which Judge Gysegem will review the mental-health counseling Rendon has received since the case began.