Joel Clark, who cooked dog to death in oven, arrested again

INDIANA -- A man convicted of baking his friend’s dog to death in an oven has been arrested again for violating the terms of his sentence.

Joel Clark was sentenced last Tuesday to home detention, not jail or prison time, despite the outcry from the animal welfare community.

Clark failed to properly maintain his GPS monitoring equipment and was not being monitored, according to John Deiter, director of Marion County Community Corrections.

Clark also failed to maintain contact with Community Corrections, Deiter said.

 

 

“I was not at all surprised he was arrested again,” said John Aleshire, CEO of the Humane Society of Indianapolis. “It gives me comfort that this man is now behind bars. He tortured a live, sweet pet to death”

He was arrested Monday evening and will appear in court Friday morning.

Criminal Court Judge William Nelson sentenced Clark to two years of home detention at Good News Ministries after Clark pleaded guilty to baking his friend’s dog to death in an oven.

Nelson said last week Clark is battling alcohol and mental health issues, while also holding down a job to support two children.

“I’m going to give this guy a chance, but if he screws up, he’s going to prison,” Nelson said last week.

“He should get the maximum,” said Aleshire. “This is a man with serious issues.”

A new hearing date has not yet been scheduled to determine Clark’s fate.

“One of the biggest factors in this case is that the victim (owner of the dog) pleaded with me not to send Clark to jail,” Nelson said last week. “She wanted him to get help instead. I took all of that into account, plus the prosecutor wasn’t asking for jail time.”

Court records show Clark reached a plea agreement with prosecutors on July 20 in which he agreed to plead guilty to three "D" felonies: torturing or mutilating a vertebrate animal; killing a domestic animal; and escape (for violating a previous home detention order).

Nelson said he’s received letters from animal advocates criticizing the sentence.

On social media, many expressed outrage that Clark was sentenced to home detention despite admitting to violating a previous home detention order stemming from a resisting law enforcement charge.

Clark was on house arrest and living with friends in May of 2014, when one of the friends discovered her dog, Zane, dead at the bottom of a trash can.

She later opened the oven door and saw a cookie sheet and pizza pan with red dog hair and what appeared to be a toenail from a small dog.

According to the probable cause, officials performed a necropsy and found Zane’s whiskers were burned, and he had burn marks on his legs and feet.

Aleshire said Judge Nelson agreed to speak with him this week about the case.

(The Indy Channel - Sept 1, 2015)

Earlier:

• Joel Clark shoved roommate's Miniature Pinshcer in oven, turned it on and burned him to death