Idaho zoo monkey killer Michael Watkins, 25, accused of violating parole

IDAHO -- A Weiser man who broke into Zoo Boise and beat a monkey to death with a stick in 2012 in could face returning to prison after his most recent arrest.

Michael Jacob Watkins, 25, was sentenced to seven years in prison for killing the patas monkey, but was paroled in September 2015.

His freedom may be short-lived, however, after an arrest for possession of drug paraphernalia Tuesday.

According to the Idaho Department of Correction, Watkins is now accused of violating his parole in the 2012 case.

Watkins pleaded guilty to the possession of drug paraphernalia charge Wednesday and was sentenced to 90 days in jail, with all but three days suspended. The parole commission will now decide whether to revoke his parole and send him back to prison to serve out the three years remaining in his sentence.

Watkin's case received national attention after he was arrested in connection to the monkey's death.

According to prosecutors, Watkins was extremely intoxicated when he entered Zoo Boise after hours Nov. 18, 2012. His defense attorneys argued he never planned to hurt the monkey, and characterized the zoo break-in as a drunken prank gone wrong.

Watkins admitted to opening the monkey's cage and chasing it. After the monkey bit him on the arm, Watkins hit it multiple times on the head and torso with a tree branch, mortally wounding it.

He eventually pleaded guilty to attempted grand theft and cruelty to animals.

What happened in 2012: It was a security guard who first ran across the crime, Burns said, coming across two men early Saturday morning - one inside the zoo and one outside the perimeter fence near the primate exhibit. Both men fled, with one running into the interior of the zoo. Burns and police were searching the grounds when Burns heard a groan and found the injured monkey outside of its exhibit, near the fence surrounding the zoo. They were able to get the animal into a crate and to the zoo's animal hospital, but the monkey died just a few minutes later of blunt force trauma to the head and neck.

He received a rider in the case, but the judge ultimately elected to relinquish jurisdiction and send him to prison.

The zoo installed razor wire to fences and added security measures in the wake of the monkey's death.

If the parole commission decides the paraphernalia arrest amounts to a violation, Watkins could remain behind bars until November 2019.

(KREM - April 23, 2016)

New Hampshire: Officers Rescue 11 Ducklings From Exeter, NH Storm Drain

NEW HAMPSHIRE -- Police and Department of Public Works employees helped rescue nearly a dozen ducklings from a storm drain in New Hampshire.

On Friday, Exeter Police posted photos from the duck rescue.

 

Police said two officers were joined by a pair of DPW workers in plucking 11 baby ducks from the drain.

 

 

 

According to police, “Mommy Duck and two (smarter) ducklings anxiously supervised!”

(CBS Local - April 23, 2016)

Mississippi: Convicted animal abuser Lynne Hackney, 59, faces new charges relating to her puppy mill

MISSISSIPPI -- A Picayune woman accused of animal abuse in 2014 is now facing a new charge.

Lynne Hackney, 59, was indicted by a grand jury for the State of Mississippi for false pretense in relation to alleged forged documents in the dog abuse case.

Rachel Ring, spokeswoman for Attorney General Jim Hood's office, said Hackney was arrested March 6, then booked into the Lamar County jail. Her bond was set at $10,000.

Hackney has not yet been arraigned, so no trial date has been set, according to officials with the 15th District Circuit Court.

The indictment says in May 2014, Hackney conducted a fraudulent transaction involving more than $500 at 6143 U.S. 98, Suite 50 in Hattiesburg. The indictment goes on to say Hackney provided a forged Louisiana State University veterinary school certificate of a BAER hearing test for an Australian cattle dog puppy, then sold the puppy to David Keith Hunt for $700.

Hunt declined to comment for this story.

A similar instance allegedly happened to Tish Frank Webb, who in 2011 lived in Franklin, Tennessee, when she purchased a puppy from Hackney.

She knew the breed was genetically inclined toward blindness and deafness, so she did a lot of research before settling on a puppy from Bleu Moon Cattle Dogs, based on Hackney's representations on the breeder's website. Bleu Moon Cattle Dogs was the dog-breeding business Hackney ran.

"Her website said she was an AKC (American Kennel Club) breeder of merit, which I found out was stolen from another breeder's website," said Webb, who now lives in Boston. "I spent a not-insignificant amount on a puppy based on what I thought was from a quality breeder."

Webb said after getting the dog, which has some issues including aggressiveness toward other dogs, she discovered the BAER hearing test allegedly obtained from a veterinarian at LSU's School of Veterinary Medicine was forged.

A call to LSU's public information officer Kevin Scott was referred to the Mississippi's Attorney General's office, as the university could not comment on the case.

Webb said she wanted to file charges against Hackney, but was told she could not because her dog could hear.

  

Hackney and her husband, Miles Allen, were charged for simple animal cruelty in October 2014 after authorities in Pearl River County confiscated more than 50 dogs from the couple's property in Carriere.

Hackney could not be reached for comment.

The Associated Press in 2014 reported the dogs were living in kennels, some three to a cage, and all of them were standing or lying in their own excrement. There was no food or water within reach, and one of the dogs' fur was so matted it couldn't walk.

In October 2015, the couple each pleaded guilty to one count of animal abuse in addition to other misdemeanor charges, according to a report in The Picayune Item.

Private investigator and researcher Michelle Veron of Denham Springs, Louisiana, who specializes in puppy mills, worked on the initial animal abuse case. When helping place the confiscated dogs in safe homes, she discovered the certificates, which she believed were forged.

Veron gathered as many certificates as she could find, then sent them to LSU to see if they could be verified. She said they were not.

"The hope is that because she got a slap on the wrist for animal neglect charges, we're really hoping she gets jail time for this and gets permanent sanction from the AKC," Veron said.

Beware of this woman. She goes by many various names:
Lynne Rita Duhe (Maiden name)
Lynne D Hackney (First married name and current legal name)
Lin H Hackney
Lynne Allen Hackney
Lynne Duhe Hackney
Lynne Rahm Hackney
Lynne R Duhe
Lynne R Allen
Lynne Allen
Lynne D Allen
Lynne Hackney Allen
Lin Rahm Allen
Lynne Duhe Allen
Lynne H Allen
Lynne D Hackney
Lin R Allen
Lin Allen
Lin Hackney
Lin R Allen-hackney
Lynne R Hackney
Lynne Hackney
Lynne D Duhe
Lynne R Hackney allen
Lin Duhe Hackney
L Rahm hackney
Hackney L Rahm
Lynne R Allenhackney
Linne D Alen

(Hattiesburg American - April 23, 2016)

Earlier:

• Two suspects arrested after many dogs found living in two sheds

New Jersey: Richard Bijacsko, 51, confessed to killing puppy with axe

NEW JERSEY -- A Springfield man is accused of beating a puppy to death, then claiming the 6-month-old pit bull had been struck by a car, authorities said Friday.

Richard Bijacsko, 51, confessed to killing the dog after officers confronted him with inconsistencies in his story, according to the Burlington County SPCA Humane Police.

Bijacsko told officers he hit the puppy twice with the back side of an ax, then left the dog’s body in a recycling bucket at a Florence motel on Monday night, police allege.

The puppy’s owner, who was not identified, lives at the motel but was not allowed to keep the dog there, police said. The owner had taken the puppy to a Springfield farm to be watched by Bijacsko.

According to police, Bijacsko said the dog “caused some problems for him so he ‘took him out.’”

Under initial questioning, Bijacsko claimed the dog had broken its leash and run into the path of a vehicle on Route 68.

"He said he carried the dog into the house and then put him in a recycling bucket and took the dog back to the owner and dropped it off," says a police account.

But a search found no evidence of an accident on the highway, and Bijacsko claimed he could not remember where the dog was struck "because he had been drinking," the account says.

A veterinarian then X-rayed the puppy's skull and found multiple fractures. "In the opinion of the vet, the injuries were not consistent with those typically seen in an accident involving an animal and a vehicle," the police account notes.

Bijacsko was charged with inflicting unnecessary cruelty to a living creature, cruelly beating a living creature and causing the death of a living creature.

He also was arrested by Springfield police for a weapons offense related to the case, then was released on $5,500 bail, authorities said. Police said they recovered the ax that was used to attack the dog.

The arrest followed a joint investigation by the Humane Police, Animal Control Officer George Ondusko and Springfield and Florence police officers.

(Courier Post Online - April 23, 2016)

Florida man, George Wilkinson, Jr., charged for soliciting sex with dogs on Craigslist

FLORIDA -- A Tallahassee man has been arrested after it was discovered that he had been soliciting sex with dogs on Craigslist.

The Tallahassee Democrat reports that George Wilkinson, Jr., 21, was booked on a misdemeanor charge after Tallahassee Animal Control received complaints over advertisements he had created claiming he wanted to have sex with dogs.

The ad went on to specify Hamilton's wishes of specific breeds, including Great Danes, German Shepherds and Labrador Retrievers.

The Tallahassee Democrat says that Hamilton claimed the ads were a joke when police questioned him, but he was arrested anyway.

The newspaper reports that Wilkinson's bond was set at $1,000 and he is prohibited from owning, possessing or coming into contact with any animal.

(Local10 - April 22, 2016)

New Jersey: Police officers race into house and rescue little Doodle named Lamb Chop

NEW JERSEY -- Police officers rescued a dog named Lamb Chop from a raging, three-alarm fire Wednesday morning as smoke spread through the home and could be seen from as far away as Route 21.

Lamb Chop's dog-sitter, Gail Wilhelm, was on her way to the Francisco Avenue home to pick up the white and brown poodle-dachshund mix for a veterinarian visit when the homeowner, away on vacation in Florida, called her to say the house was on fire.

"My heart has been in my stomach," Wilhelm said as she watched the home burn, asking people if they'd seen Lamb Chop.

Wilhelm has been taking care of Lamb Chop for seven or eight years and said the dog got sick on Saturday, the day before her owner left. "I knew this was going to be a bad week but I didn't expect this," Wilhelm said. "That should have been an omen."

The pair reunited when Wilhelm found the son of the homeowner. Lamb Chop, who Wilhelm said is 14 or 15 years old, was in a car with the son. She pulled the dog, which weighs about 14 pounds, out of the car window and buried her face in fur, crying.

"If anything would have happened to her, I don't know what I would have done," Wilhelm said through tears. "I would have gone in and got her myself."

Detective Sgt. Tom Lewis and Officers Chris Beatini and Vincent Callan responded to the home, 135 Francisco Ave., around 10:45 a.m. and saw that the front porch was already in flames. They went to the back of the house, shouting for residents to get out, and saw Lamb Chop in the kitchen.

"There was a lot of smoke and the wind was blowing toward us," Lewis said.

Lamb Chop appeared nervous but Callan grabbed her collar and handed her off to Beatini.

"She came right to me," Beatini, with fur on his blue uniform, later told Wilhelm as she hugged him with the dog in her arms.

From left to right, Det Sgt Tom Lewis, Police Officer Vincent Callan
and Police Officer Chris Beatini are pictured after rescuing a dog
 named Lamb Chop from a burning Rutherford home Wednesday.

"God bless those guys that went in and got her," Wilhelm said.

Other officers also took a black-and-white dog out of 123 Francisco Ave. because there were embers in the backyard and the home seemed to be filling with smoke, Police Chief John Russo said.

Deputy Fire Chief Christopher Seidler said the three-alarm blaze started at 135 Francisco Ave. and spread to the house next door, 131 Francisco Ave. No one was home in either house. The fire was reported around 10:45 a.m.

The windy, dry conditions enabled the blaze to spread quickly and gutted 135. The second house was damaged but it is intact.

The fire was under control around noon, Seidler said. A fourth alarm was called for additional fire departments to standby in Rutherford firehouses. No firefighters were injured.

The blaze's cause is under investigation. The Bergen County Prosecutor's Arson Squad is helping in the investigation, though Russo said no foul play is suspected. Seidler did not know how many people had been displaced.

Firefighters were able to attack the blaze at 131 from inside the home, but were forced to fight the fire at 135 from the outside with hoses on the ground and in aerial ladders.

"It's very dry," he said. "The conditions are not favorable."

About 50 firefighters from Rutherford, Lyndhurst, Wallington, East Rutherford, Carlstadt, Moonachie and North Arlington responded.

(North Jersey.com - April 21, 2016)

Louisiana: Erin Alleman, 28, charged with aggravated animal cruelty, theft

LOUISIANA -- I couldn't find anything other than the booking/arrest information.

Name: Erin Alleman
Address: Crowley LA
DOB: 1987
Race: White
Sex: Female
Height: 5'05"
Weight: 220 lbs
Hair Color: Brown
Eye Color: Brown
Age at arrest: 28
Date of arrest: 04/29/2016
Arresting agency: Acadia Parish County
Total Bond: $500
Charge:04/29/2016

• #1 THEFT CHARGE - STATUTE: 14:67 (MISD) - BOND: $500
• #2 CRUELTY TO ANIMALS SIM/AGG - STATUTE: 14:102.1 (FELONY)