COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- -
A judge has given a 90-day jail sentence to an Ohio firefighter who prosecutors say killed his dogs to avoid boarding them during a vacation with a girlfriend.
Forty-three-year-old David Santuomo of Columbus pleaded guilty Wednesday to two counts of animal cruelty and one count of possession of a criminal tool. That charge concerned a plastic bottle that authorities said was used as a rifle silencer.
Assistant Franklin County Prosecutor Heather Robinson said Santuomo shot his two mixed-breed dogs Sloopy and Skeeter multiple times on Dec. 3 after tying them to a pipe in his basement. She says he dumped the remains in a trash bin behind his firehouse.
Defense attorney Sam Shamansky called the crime an isolated event "totally out of character" for his client.
(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
Forty-three-year-old David Santuomo of Columbus pleaded guilty Wednesday to two counts of animal cruelty and one count of possession of a criminal tool. That charge concerned a plastic bottle that authorities said was used as a rifle silencer.
Assistant Franklin County Prosecutor Heather Robinson said Santuomo shot his two mixed-breed dogs Sloopy and Skeeter multiple times on Dec. 3 after tying them to a pipe in his basement. She says he dumped the remains in a trash bin behind his firehouse.
Defense attorney Sam Shamansky called the crime an isolated event "totally out of character" for his client.
(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
