Local Firefighter Who Shot, Dumped Dogs Pleads
NBC 4
PLEA DEAL: A Columbus firefighter who admits he fatally shot his dogs and dumped them at a fire station enters a guilty plea and is sentenced.
COLUMBUS, Ohio—A Columbus firefighter who admitted he fatally shot his dogs and dumped them at a fire station entered a plea Wednesday.
It’s a story NBC 4 has been following since late last year, and NBC 4’s Mikaela Hunt was in the courtroom for his sentencing.
David Santuomo seemed edgy but not visibly upset during his hearing in Franklin County municipal court.
Prosecutors painted a grim picture of what happened at Santuomo’s home right before his December vacation: The defendant laid plastic sheeting on the floor of his basement and tied the dogs to a pipe running along the ceiling. The dogs were partially suspended from the ceiling. He took a rifle, which he equipped with a homemade silencing device, and shot the dogs multiple times.
Santuomo pleaded guilty to two charges of animal cruelty and one count of possessing criminal tools Wednesday. All three are misdemeanor charges.
Judge Harlan Hale sentenced the firefighter to 90 days in jail, five years of probation and a five-year ban on having or living with an animal.
Hale said Santuomo would not be allowed to own firearms and was required to get alcohol, drug and mental-health counseling.
Santuomo’s sentence also included writing an apology letter that will appear in International Fire Fighters Magazine and 200 hours of community service.
Santuomo did not speak in court and would not speak with Hunt after the sentencing.
“Why did he choose not to speak up in court this morning? Because this was the result of lengthy negotiations between the parties,” Santuomo’s defense lawyer Sam Shamansky said. “The court accepted the resolution, and he didn’t have anything further to add. Through me he wanted to add how remorseful he is.”
Franklin County Prosecutor Ron O’Brien said his office did not pursue felony charges because there is not a felony animal-abuse charge under Ohio law.
“We felt that the misdemeanors with 180 days was a sufficient resolution,” O’Brien said.
Santuomo told Capital Area Humane Society investigators the two dogs grew ill after digesting antifreeze Thursday, Dec. 4, 2008. He said the dogs were shot Sunday, Dec. 7, 2008.
Kerry Manion, chief humane agent said Santuomo told him he didn’t have enough money to take the dogs to the vet. That was after humane-society agents retrieved the dogs’ bodies from the dumpster behind Firehouse 27 on Smoky Row Road.
Manion said the dogs were shot multiple times with a .22-caliber firearm.
Toxicology tests that determined whether the dogs were poisoned with antifreeze were not available. The necropsy results were not made available because the Capital Area Humane Society, which performed the procedure, is a private entity.
Battalion Chief Doug Smith said there was talk Santuomo shot the dogs because he had no one to take care of them while on a vacation cruise.
NBC 4 obtained a search warrant on Santuomo’s home late last year that said Santuomo sent several text messages bragging that he was going to shoot his dogs instead of paying for their boarding during his vacation.
Columbus fire said it remained unclear currently whether Santuomo, a 12-year veteran, will keep his job with the division.
The division completed an internal investigation, and the fire chief was to make the decision on possible job loss or reprimand.
Local 67 said the misdemeanor crimes were not an issue of job performance.
Columbus Firefighters Union president Jack Reall said he was surprised by the detailed sentencing and that rapists are sentenced to less.
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Reader Reactions
An appropriate sanction could be to work with CAHS as a volunteer, concurrent with counseling. If prisoners do well working with dogs, why not the FF?
Both Onthehitlist {OTHL} 04 July 04 2009 Sat. 09:24 and BlueRhino {BR} 02 July 2009 Thu. 15:26 and 15:21 are CORRECT.
FRANKLIN COUNTY ANIMAL CONTROL
Animal care and control {ACC}:
Dog body count from Auditor’s Report pg 186/189; pdf page 194/197
Comprehensive Annual Financial Report for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2008 [ “service requests” omitted ]
URL TO FULL REPORT
http://www.co.franklin.oh.us/auditor/Fiscal_Services/Financial_Reports/2008_Financial_Reports/2008CAFR.pdf
———————————————————————————————————
DI=Dogs impounded, DR=Dogs Returned to owner or adopted
2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
SR : 16,853 15,772 15,932 15,856 16,322 17,303 17,134
DI : 14,223 12,977 12,495 13,095 12,459 13,345 13,035
DR : 06,486 05,844 05,719 05,843 06,634 06,244 06,746
DI-DR: 07,737 07,133 06,776 07,252 05,825 07,101 06,289<=-
2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
IN 2008 there were 6,289 dogs NEITHER RETURNED NOR ADOPTED.
It ought to be assumed that the dogs were humanely destroyed pursuant to Ohio Law or died otherwise (illness/trauma before they could be humanely destroyed), at the ACC facility on Alum Creek Drive.
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CAPITAL AREA HUMANE SOCIETY [CAHS]
CAHS outplaced about 85% of its dogs in fiscal 2007.
The succinct {1 word} answer to following question is NO.
-> “Is the Capital Area Humane Society a “no-kill” shelter?“ <-
The enhanced (151 words) answer to above question per CAHS follows:
NOTE: CAHS uses the word “sleep” instead of “death.“ Those animals that are “humanely destroyed” (Ohio Revised Code term) DO NOT AWAKEN, in case an uninformed reader or youngster is reading. END NOTE
“We are an open-admission shelter. That means we accept every dog, cat and small animal that is brought to us by his or her owner. We make every effort to place animals into loving and permanent homes. We do not place time limits on animals available for adoption as long as they remain healthy and well adjusted.
“The most difficult task that our staff has at the Humane Society is to put animals to sleep [sic]. If an animal is admitted to us and due to medical or behavioral problems is unsafe for adoption, we humanely euthanize [sic] the animals. We never turn an animal in need away.
“It is important to understand that there is a serious pet overpopulation problem in this country. That is why it is so important that pet owners spay or neuter their pets; there are simply not enough homes for all of the pets that are born.“
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Onthehitlist {OTHL} 04 July 04 2009 Sat. 09:24
OTHL: “... Columbus FFs saved three dogs and cat from a fire on Brehl Avenue yesterday. Didn’t see any news story on that!!!
JAG: Heroic acts by FF’s on animals does not sell column inches or sound bytes.
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BlueRhino {BR} 02 July 2009 Thu. 15:26
BR: “.... with only 1 year probation it obviously didn’t matter. Now, if someone had abused her grandchilds dog - whoa LOOK OUT!“
JAG: CAHS receives and spends over twice as much money on animals as Franklin County CASA/GAL spends on abused, dependent, neglected children!
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BlueRhino {BR} 02 July 2009 Thu. 15:21
“90 DAYS IN JAIL!!! .... you know this guy got HAMMERED! .... Now, these people hid a 3yo child from authorities, lied and were arrested. They plead innocent and took it to the box and lost. The sentence: no jail and one year probation. Nice ... some guy abuses animals and gets 90 days in jail. We’re backwards in this county.“
Just to show how one sided the media is, Columbus FFs saved three dogs and cat from a fire on Brehl Avenue yesterday. Didn’t see any news story on that!!!
Oh, and did I forget to say that grandma did not show up for court and had a warrant for her arrest for all of 2008. Yea, she just blew off the courts like the subpoena didn’t matter at all. Blew off the charges like they didn’t matter. Well, I guess she was right in the end…with only 1 year probation it obviously didn’t matter. Now, if someone had abused her grandchilds dog - whoa LOOK OUT!
90 DAYS IN JAIL!!! How insane is that?! If anyone is familiar with the way Franklin County routinely hands out light to almost non-existent sentences for misdemeanors, then you know this guy got HAMMERED! Don’t get me wrong, he obviously has problems, and I could care less if he keeps his job or not, but 90 DAYS!!! I can tell you there was a case from 07 where a babysitter observed visible signs of sexual abuse on a child. She called police and the childs mother. The mother HID THE CHILD at grandmas. Police went to grandma and grandma lied and said the child was not there. Police found the child despite the lies and charged grandma. Now, these people hid a 3yo child from authorities, lied and were arrested. They plead innocent and took it to the box and lost. The sentence: no jail and one year probation. Nice…some guy abuses animals and gets 90 days in jail. We’re backwards in this county.
farfaraway [FFA] 02 July 2009 Thu. 9:24
FFA: “Captjack… ... you are local 67’s president the average city of columbus citizen does not.“
JAG: Correct. I did not know who he was until I heard the crowd call for Santuomo’s head. Louder than the crowd’s call on Socrates, quieter than the crowd’s call on Jesus.
FFA: “It is only those of us that must put up with your antics that would recognize you.“
JAG: Please, anyone, what antics are Capt. Jack accused of or guilty of?
FFA: “...Santuomo did is disgusting ...“
JAG: Correct.
FFA: “If he [Santuomo] is willing to brag about this incident he clearly felt that there would be no consquences.“
JAG: If Santuomo felt that way, he was clearly WROMG. AND he answered to his errors in a court of law, pursuant to the Rule of Law.
->IF<- Management moves to terminate Santuomo, Santuomo is entitled to the protection of rights enunciated in the contract between the firefighters and the City of Columbus.
Such contracts exist to protect an employee so that a Mayor may not arbitrarily tells a Safety Director to fire a person covered by a contract.
Santuomo is entitled to have every “t” crossed and every “i” dotted when being disciplined as severely as being terminated.
My point is I don’t hide my identity. I don’t need to (clear conscience).
“It is only those of us that must put up with your antics that would recognize you.“ That’s funny!
“As for my screen name I am far far away so it fits. “ One of the bad things about the internet.
see you soon.
Captjack… while you would love to believe that you are so well known and that EVERYONE knows that you are local 67’s president the average city of columbus citizen does not. It is only those of us that must put up with your antics that would recognize you. As for my screen name I am far far away so it fits.
As to this story…. what Santuomo did is disgusting and would be considered premeditated if a human was involved. If he is willing to brag about this incident he clearly felt that there would be no consquences. I am proud of those individuals that came forward and turned him in. We need more people like that!!!!!
farfaraway,
Am I supposed to be ashamed of that? I would expect you to do your job also, whatever it is you do.
My identity is well known on all of the blogs. I don’t need to hide behind some anonymous wishful screen name.
CAPTJACK…......
of course you would stick up for your unions.. being that you are the union president!!!!!!!!!!!
Yeah let,s go back to bashing the mayor. It,s a lot more fun
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