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Last updated on Tuesday, July 31, 2018
(SEYMOUR) - Jackson Circuit Court Judge Richard W. Poynter didn’t hold back Friday afternoon during a sentencing hearing involving an animal theft and cruelty case.
The Seymour Tribune reports, although the Chihuahua was able to be returned to its owner uninjured, Judge Poynter said 54-year-old Mark Allan Hammond, actions were "pretty outrageous." Saying the animal could have been crushed alive if left in the dumpster.
Judge Poynter accepted Hammond's guilty plea to theft with a prior conviction, a Level 6 felony, and sentenced him to two years in jail with no time suspended. That will be served consecutively to sentences imposed in two separate Jackson County Superior Court I cases.
During Friday's hearing, Hammond admitted to taking the dog, named Dallas, without the consent of its owner, Donna Coffey, of Seymour, and placing it in a dumpster behind Taqueria La Mejor, 108 E. Tipton Street on the evening of March 8. Hammond said Coffey had been letting him stay at her apartment two blocks away.
Coffey told police she had a dispute with Hammond at her apartment the night before. The dog followed Hammond when he left, and out of spite, he put it in a dumpster.
When Seymour police arrived on the scene, the dog had been pulled from the dumpster covered in dirt and sludge and was shivering from the cold.
The officers transported the dog to the humane society and gave it a bath, some food and water.
Hammond was captured on video surveillance putting the dog in the dumpster. He later confessed to the crime and apologized for the crime in court Friday.
Information Seymour Tribune, http://www.tribtown.com
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