Pennsylvania: Leaked email says 'no charges' would be filed in puppy abuse case that has SPCA, DA's office sparring

PENNSYLVANIA -- An email from a county detective appears to contradict a statement from the district attorney’s office that the investigation into an animal cruelty case is ongoing.

The Lancaster County SPCA says it has two veterinarians and a forensic pathologist who will testify that Hennessey, a 14-week-old pit bull, was “brutally beaten.”

The SPCA released information about the case to the public on Oct. 26. Later, a Brett Hambright, a spokesman for the district attorney, criticized SPCA director Susan Martin for interfering with the investigation.

However, an Oct. 13 email from the county’s animal cruelty officer, Detective Joanne Resh, provided Thursday to LancasterOnline, says “no charges are to be filed” against the dog’s owner (later identified as Mario Crawley).

Connie Kondravy, head of the Organization for the Responsible Care of Animals, said she and her husband, animal cruelty officer John Kondravy, shared Resh’s email “to provide the information needed to convince (District Attorney Craig) Stedman to pursue the case.”

“No investigation was tampered with by anyone,” Kondravy said. “The case was already closed.”

Resh’s email, dated Oct. 13, lists details of the investigation by herself and West Hempfield Township police Officer Bart Hollis. At the end of the message, Resh wrote: “Based upon these facts. No charges are to be filed.”

West Hempfield Township police, contacted Friday, referred questions to the district attorney.

Hambright said Friday morning he was not aware of Resh’s email but insisted it doesn’t say the investigation is over.

“It is still ongoing. We actually reached out to a veterinarian just yesterday,” he said. “That’s our statement.”

Puppy euthanized
The puppy, according to previous reports, was taken by her owner to the PETS emergency center on Oct. 8 and the SPCA on Oct. 11.

According to SPCA spokeswoman Jennifer Ericson, the puppy had “broken bones, shattered teeth, and paralysis of the back legs, leaving her unable to stand and in excruciating pain.”

The dog’s owner, who was identified in Resh’s email, is not being named by LNP because no charges have been filed.

Ericson said Hennessey was “brutally beaten ... then left to suffer for days without care.” The puppy was euthanized because of the severe injuries caused by “horrific abuse,” she said.

Ericson said the dog’s owner provided conflicting stories to the shelter’s staff, telling one person the puppy was struck by a car and another the puppy fell from a two-story-high deck. Resh, in her email to the Kondravys, said the dog’s owner told an investigating officer that the puppy had fallen from his deck.

SPCA veterinarian Dr. Mike Descant “determined that the pup’s many injuries were not consistent with either a fall from a building or being hit by a car, but rather from a brutal beating,” Ericson said. “Moreover, her pressure sores indicated she’d been in this condition for days, maybe even weeks.”

Ericson said Resh told Martin on Oct. 19 “to go ahead and dispose of the body.”

In a statement Friday afternoon, Hambright said the investigation “is absolutely not closed.”

Investigators, he said, “are awaiting professional findings and reports” on the dog’s condition, and “additional steps are planned for the future.”

Information released prematurely to the public, Hambright said, is “beyond discouraging and potentially fatal to this case.”

(LancasterOnline - Oct 28, 2016)