Guilty plea entered for man facing neighbor’s dog mutilating charge
A South Haven man charged with torturing an animal after he allegedly beat his neighbor’s dog so badly it lost an eye in August 2019 has agreed to plead guilty to a felony charge in exchange for prosecutors dropping a misdemeanor count against him.
Ronald Johnson, 56, of the 300 block of Pinewood Drive, submitted the plea Monday to Porter Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Clymer. Clymer, according to court documents, has taken the matter under advisement pending the submission of a presentence investigation report and set sentencing for 10 a.m. Nov. 23.
Under the terms of the plea agreement, Johnson will plead guilty to one count of mutilating a vertebrate animal, a Level 6 felony, and a second count, a misdemeanor charge of cruelty to an animal, will be dismissed.
“The parties agree the cap on incarceration is 90 days but no limit on probation other than statutory,” notes the plea agreement. “The defendant may request the court enter judgment of conviction as a Class A misdemeanor. The State of Indiana will oppose that request.”
The proposed plea also calls for Johnson to pay the owner of the dog $1,100 at the time of sentencing.
The charges came after Johnson allegedly reached over the fence and struck his neighbor’s beagle-dachshund mix, Echo, on the head with a log while the dog was in the neighbor’s yard on Aug. 28, 2019.
The dog, according to a report from the Porter County Sheriff ’s Department, “did not impose an immediate threat of danger or harm to the subject and further was not running at large. The K-9 was in fact located inside a fenced in yard belonging to its owner.”
Johnson was released from Porter County Jail on a $1,500 cash bond in the days after his arrest.
The neighbor has said the dog’s right eye socket was fractured and he had hemorrhaging behind his eye, which was later removed. The incident, she said, also changed the dog’s behavior.
At a June court hearing, Clymer urged a resolution in the case and said if one couldn’t be reached, the case would be scheduled for trial “because this is getting old.”