New York: Army Corps Project Manager Randy Battaglia comes to the defense of man accused of killing Molly Rose

NEW YORK -- The men who pleaded not guilty in March to charges involving body-gripping traps — one of which killed a pet dog along the fence of the former Seneca Army Depot — are expected back in Romulus Town Court June 24.

Meanwhile, a man who worked for 30 years at the former depot, Army Corps Project Manager Randy Battaglia, said this week from the depot that he doesn’t think the men charged are to blame for the dog’s death.

RIP Molly Rose

“It is sad to lose a dog,” said Battaglia, who's with the Army Corps of Engineers, which has been working for years on maintenance and environmental cleanup of the former depot in Seneca County.

Battaglia said that though he isn’t familiar with the exact charges against the trappers, he doesn’t believe that their trap was the one that killed the 8-year-old yellow lab, Molly Rose.

Battaglia said many people trap around the depot and in the case of the men charged, he knows they had permission and they also have a history of trapping responsibly.

After Molly Rose was snared and then choked to death in a trap while on a leashed walk Jan. 7, state Department of Environmental Conservation officers charged James W. Brown, 80, and Clint K. 

Moosman, 53, both of Seneca Falls, with 12 counts of setting the traps larger than 6 inches and failing to identify the traps as required by law.

After the men were charged, state DEC Officer Scott Angotti said the types of traps found are used to catch animals such as coyotes, foxes and raccoons.

THIS POOR COYOTE IS STILL ALIVE:
Three days after Molly was killed, Brian Jensen found a
coyote trapped along the depot fence. The coyote, still
alive, was caught in the same king of body-gripping
trap, though a larger type, a Conibear 330. The coyote
was "euthanized" after Jensen called a DEC officer

The law regarding body-gripping traps of the kind found requires they be put in a box to prevent animals such as dogs and cats from being caught, Angotti said.

Someone want to explain how you configure a body-gripping kill trap so that a cat cannot be caught? Cats are the same size as raccoons and small foxes. Anyone catching and killing someone's cat is not going to volunteer that information. They're going to club it to death if it's not already dead and dump its body into the woods.

The violations carry a maximum penalty for each man of a $250 fine and/or 15 days in jail.

Moosman had been working as an animal control officer through a contract with the town of Seneca Falls when he was charged. He resigned from that job soon thereafter.

Battaglia said this week that Brown and Moosman “were allowed to trap there because they were trustworthy.”

“These men had been trapping for a number of years,” Battaglia said. He added the men have a history of trapping nuisance animals around the depot, such as beavers to alleviate flooding of roads beavers can cause due to the animals’ activities around the property.

As far as Brown and Moosman being blamed for the trap that killed the dog, “I don’t think it was their trap,” Battaglia said.

Jensne's dad said that his daughter
still hears the sounds associated with
the dog being trapped, and that she
goes to counseling to deal with the
trauma of seeing her beloved
pet die in front of her.

Molly Rose was on a walk with Laurena Jensen, a Finger Lakes Community College student, when the dog got caught and then died in the trap, despite efforts by Laurena and then her father, Brian Jensen, among others, to save her. Brian continues to push for justice in the case and now questions whether the men charged are indeed responsible. He said in an email this week that based on his own investigations and conversation with Battaglia, he understands the case could be dismissed.

As of late Thursday, Moosman and Brown were due to be back in Romulus Town Court at 10:30 a.m. June 24. Laurena said she hopes the investigation continues and that those truly responsible for the trap that killed Molly Rose don’t get away with it.

(Edited for length: Daily Messenger - June 13, 2016)


Earlier:

• New York: Someone is setting deadly traps, killing dogs. But the main question is: why are traps like this allowed for ANY animal?
• New York: Instead of charging Clint Moosman, 53, and James Brown, 80, with animal cruelty for killing Molly Rose, they're issued illegal trapping tickets. By the way, not mentioned is the fact that Moosman is currently employed as a Nuisance Animal Control officer for Seneca Falls.
• New York: Clint K Moosman, who killed Molly Rose, is outed as an animal control officer for Seneca Falls
• New York: Animal cruelty charges against Clint Moosman and James Brown sought in depot trapping case
• New York: Seneca County First Assistant District Attorney Mark Sienkiewicz dismisses Molly Rose's horrific suffering and death: “Unlike a murder charge, where you have a victim, the illegal trap is much like fishing without a license. So, just as there is no victim when you are fishing without a license, the illegal trap doesn’t have a victim.”