Cortland man pleads guilty to new animal abuse law

WARREN

Collin J. Macaulay, 19, of Gates Street in Cortland, pleaded guilty Monday in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court to felony intimidation and a new animal abuse law.

Macaulay will be sentenced after the Trumbull County Adult Probation Department conducts a presentence investigation. He could get several years in prison.

Macaulay was charged after Cortland police said he abused his pit bull puppy, which suffered face trauma, two fractured teeth, a swollen abrasion on its muzzle and possible other injuries.

The intimidation charge relates to threats Macaulay made to two neighbors who called police after hearing what sounded like animal abuse at Macaulay’s home.

Macaulay is the first person in Trumbull County charged under Ohio’s “Goddard’s Law,” which was enacted in 2016 and makes it a fifth degree felony to knowingly cause serious physical harm to a companion animal.

As part of Macaulay’s plea agreement, he will be banned from owning any type of pet or animal for five years.