Nicholas Snowden is being charged with four felony counts of animal cruelty. Snowden was arrested on Sept. 22 after police say a Facebook post of him beating a dog surfaced in July.
Sioux Falls Animal Control Supervisor Julie DeJong said, "A man picks up a dog and slams it to the ground and then it appears that he is choking the dog."
DeJong describes the Facebook video that was brought to their attention by the Sioux Falls Area Humane Society on July 3.
"It's really sad. It's hard to see and it's hard to watch the video because people that love their pet don't usually treat them in this manner and I can't imagine anyone else treating them in this manner," said DeJong.
According to an arrest affidavit, the video had been posted by someone who had gotten the video three weeks before from Nick Snowden's girlfriend. The affidavit says officers talked to the girlfriend at her home on the 300 block of South Lyndale Avenue. She said the video was taken there and confirmed that it was Snowden and her dog 'Almond' in it.
Court papers say an animal control officer saw 'Almond' on July 5. She said the dog was skinny and she could see his ribs and hip bones. Almond was walking with a limp, had a head tilt and was walking in circles.
DeJong said, "It's looks as though this had occurred several times."
Court papers state that there had been previous injuries to 'Almond', as well as, the woman's two other dogs 'Lola' and 'Queso' while in Snowden's care. According to papers, on two different occasions, 'Lola' had been taken to the vet after Snowden put the dog under scalding hot water.
"It just breaks your heart. I think everybody has that gut reaction where you just can't believe someone would do that. It's horrible to think that was happening in Sioux Falls and we don't know how long it was happening for," said Sara Parker.
Parker is a member of South Dakotans Fighting Animal Cruelty Together. She says just last year the group got the legislature to pass a bill that would make animal cruelty a felony in the state. Before it was just a misdemeanor. She says cases like these just validate their work.
Parker said, "One, we're really thankful that someone saw that on Facebook and turned them in, but then you move beyond that and say okay now we need to make sure that this person is prosecuted."
Parker says since the new bill was passed in July of last year, there have been 10 animal cruelty cases in the state. So far, only one has resulted in a conviction.
If convicted, Snowden faces up to two years in prison on each count. Police say his bond has been set at $2,500.
According to the court documents, Snowden admitted to officers that it was him in the video. He admitted that the video 'looked horrible'. He said the angle of the video make it look worse that it seemed. The papers say Snowden said he should have instead taken him by the collar and drug him across the ground.
(KDLT News - Oct 9, 2015)
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