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Warren youth charged with bestiality
By Ed Runyan
WARREN
The detective handling a new bestiality complaint involving a Homewood Avenue teen says the same youth committed the same offense against the same dog last year.
Aside from questions about how he was able to gain access to the dog again after being convicted the last time, detective Nick Carney of the Warren Police Department is concerned about potential human victims.
“My concern with this ... is if you would do this to an animal, what would you do to a small child?” Carney said.
The dog is a small Chihuahua-Dachshund mix.
Carney said the male, 17, was placed on probation after being convicted in juvenile court of animal cruelty. The facts in that case were nearly identical to the new charge except that at that time, Warren’s new bestiality law was not in place, Carney said.
Carney said he believes the new charges are a violation of the youth’s probation.
Bestiality is a first-degree misdemeanor. Animal cruelty is a second-degree misdemeanor. The state’s new bestiality law makes bestiality a second-degree misdemeanor.
Bestiality and animal cruelty have different penalties, said Jason Cooke of Boardman, who was the chief proponent behind Warren’s decision to become the first city in Ohio to enact a bestiality law in June 2016.
It came about because of the actions of a Ward Avenue Northwest man convicted of animal cruelty in 2016 for having sex with a family dog.
Cooke said one chief difference between the Warren bestiality law and the animal cruelty law is that a person convicted of bestiality can be prohibited for life from being around a companion animal.
In both cases, it’s up to the judge to decide the terms of an offender’s probation, Cooke said.
Before Warren and the state enacted bestiality laws, it was legal to have sex with animals.
Carney said he could not discuss why the teen was able to have access to the same dog again this year. The teen splits his time between his home and Trumbull County Children Services, Carney said.
The teen admitted to Carney on Tuesday that he had sex with the dog last weekend and in July, Carney said. A person in the home reported suspicions regarding the youth’s actions, Carney said.
He was taken to the Trumbull County Juvenile Justice Center on Tuesday. Carney said he would be asking for the youth to be charged with two counts of bestiality under Warren’s ordinance and two counts of animal cruelty. Those are all misdemeanors, but an examination of the dog is being done to determine whether the conduct caused serious injuries.
If so, a felony could be filed, Carney said, which could make his punishment more severe if he’s convicted.
Stanley Elkins, Trumbull County juvenile prosecutor, said it’s too early in the investigative process to say whether the teen’s earlier conviction prohibited him from being around a dog now.
“I would hope it would,” Elkins said.
The dog is with the Animal Welfare League of Trumbull County.