Deon D. Nailing is charged with aggravated cruelty to animals, a felony offense, for allegedly beating a dog he owned in its head and causing it to die earlier this month.
During the investigation, the body of the dog, listed in the charge as a pit bull, was discovered with a mallet in a trash bin in Lerna, according to Detective Christina Stephen of the Coles County Sheriff's Office.
Nailing, 35, for whom court records list an address of 601 College Ave. in Lerna, was arrested on Saturday, two days after the charge was filed, court records show. He later posted the required $1,500 in bond and was scheduled for his first court appearance on Monday.
According to Stephen, deputies were first dispatched to Lerna on Feb. 1, when a woman said Nailing threatened to harm both her and the dog. Nailing was also questioned and claimed the dog caused the bruising the deputies saw on the woman, she said.
Deputies were called back to the scene the following day, when the woman claimed Nailing hit her and had killed the dog and buried it, Stephen also said.
Investigators couldn't find any signs of a burial but later located the dog's body and the mallet in the trash bin, she said.
The charge against Nailing accuses him of killing a "companion animal" by a means other than euthanasia as prescribed by the Illinois Department of Agriculture.
That's because of his earlier criminal convictions, which include two drug offenses for which he served prison time and for which records indicate he's currently on parole. He also faces a pending felony theft charge.
(MyMixFM - Feb 23, 2016)
