A warrant to arrest and hold 22-year-old Corey Balser without bond was issued Thursday morning in Tippecanoe Superior Court 1 after a hearing on a petition to revoke his probation. As of Thursday night, Balser was still at large.
The order for his arrest came after his pit bull, Chewy, allegedly attacked two people in the past month. The latest attack took place early Tuesday, when 67-year-old Loretta Sims and her husky, Kato, were allegedly ambushed by Chewy.
In addition to being suspected of violating probation by letting his dogs out, Balser faces two Class A misdemeanor charges in connection with the attacks.
While the latest attack ultimately led to Chewy’s capture and Balser’s new set of criminal charges, neighbors say it never should have escalated to this point before action was taken.
“There’s no reason why that mess even should have happened,” Jennifer Voight said. “If you have a (dangerous animal agreement), why would you not have to inform your neighbors or your landlord?”
Chewy’s first brush with the law came in 2012 when he bit a Tippecanoe County community corrections officer after jumping through Balser’s screen door in the 2300 block of North 19th Street. At that time, Balser signed a dangerous animal agreement, which shows that he acknowledged the potential danger his dog posed to the community.
Chewy had gone without a reported incident until Nov. 12, when Keith Balser, Corey Balser’s father, was attacked in the street in the 3200 block of Pipers Glen Drive, sending him to the hospital with serious arm injuries. After that attack, police said, Chewy ran away and could not be located.
The dog resurfaced three weeks later when Sims was attacked about 3 a.m. Tuesday on Pipers Glen Drive, where Balser lives with his girlfriend, Chewy, and Pippy, his other pit bull.
Kristen McVey, Tippecanoe County’s chief deputy prosecutor, said the case was forwarded to her office for review after Tuesday’s attack. Criminal charges and a petition to revoke Balser’s probation were filed the next day.
While she was unable to comment on the details of the ongoing investigation, she said that Balser’s signing of the dangerous animal agreement in 2012 was crucial.
“Without that, (the state) would have been unable to pursue criminal charges,” she said.
At the time of the attacks, Balser was on probation for conspiracy to commit burglary, auto theft and theft, to which he pleaded guilty in 2009. He received a 10-year sentence with six years executed and four years suspended.
The petition to revoke probation states that Balser violated his probation when he “failed to take reasonable steps to restrain his dog or dogs and his failure resulted in the dog or dogs biting and injuring third parties. He failed to restrain the dog or dogs despite having been warned about the dangerous character of at least one of the dogs.”
This is the fourth petition to revoke probation filed against Balser in relation to his 2009 conviction. A third, filed Oct. 18 after Balser was arrested on suspicion of possession of a controlled substance, unlawful possession of a firearm, corrupt business influence and dealing in a counterfeit substance, is still pending.
The first two, filed in January 2011 following an alcohol-related arrest, resulted in the reinstatement of one year of Balser’s previously suspended sentence.
If convicted of the Class A misdemeanor charges of failing to restrain his dog resulting in bodily injury, he could face up to a year in jail and a fine of $5,000 on each count.
Because of the circumstances, a Class A misdemeanor is the most serious offense Balser could have been charged with, according to Indiana law.
Under the state statute, the offense would be a Class D felony if the dog attack resulted in death. If a person intentionally or knowingly allowed a dog to attack and kill someone, the crime would be a Class C felony.
Per state law, Balser’s standing as a convicted felon does not prohibit him from owning a dog that has been deemed dangerous, or a dog of a particular breed.
Calls placed to Carl Sandy, Balser’s listed attorney in court documents, were not returned Thursday.
Lt. Scott McCoy of the Lafayette Police Department said after the Nov. 12 attack, police and animal control officers were actively searching for Chewy by conducting periodic visits to Balser’s home and sweeping the neighborhood.
Balser is suspected of hiding the dog from police.
After it attacked Sims and her dog, Chewy was located at a friend of Balser’s house and was euthanized Wednesday.
Some of Balser’s neighbors said Chewy and Pippy went unnoticed along Pipers Glen Drive until the Nov. 12 attack.
“I didn’t know there were pit bulls over there,” Sandy Parker said. “See, they just moved in.”
Parker, the owner of a timid beagle, said she’s never been concerned about dog attacks in the neighborhood where she’s lived since the 1970s, but it would be a different story if she still had children in her home.
“If (my dog) was aggressive toward one of my grandkids, she’d be gone,” Parker said. “It’s an animal. Yes, I love her, but she’s an animal, and I don’t want my grandkids hurt.”
Crystal Thacker, who lives down the street from Balser, said she never saw the pit bulls, but if she does see a stray dog, she calls animal control.
Thacker noted there are two school bus stops along Pipers Glen Drive a half block from Balser’s residence.
Voight and her husband, Jason, are unnerved by the recent attacks, and they are former pit bull owners, she said.
They said the last time they worried about an attack involved a neighbor’s pit bull that would charge the fence, snarling, each time it was let outside.
“It’s not a problem with the breed. It’s how they’re bred, how they’re raised and how they’re handled,” Jason Voight said. “We have carry permits, and even last night I took the trash out and I didn’t go out without my gun, because of this, mainly.”
(Journal and Courier - Dec 5, 2013)
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