Officers Won’t Be Prosecuted For Fondling Dog
Published: November 19, 2009
Updated: November 19, 2009
RICHMOND, Va.—Five correctional officers charged in October with animal cruelty for fondling a K-9 dog and videotaping the incidents will not be prosecuted.
Powhatan County Commonwealth’s Attorney Robert B. Beasley Jr. decided last week not to follow through because he believed the cruelty charges would not stand up in court, he said Wednesday.
“I heard from a couple of veterinarians who told me that, in their opinion, it didn’t rise to the level of cruelty,“ he explained. “One of them told me that no harm can come to the animal through doing that.“
Beasley initially filed charges after consulting with the state veterinarian’s office.
“When your burden is proof beyond a reasonable doubt, I came to the conclusion that if you have reputable veterinarians in disagreement over the issue, you’re not going to be able to prove it in court.“
The officers—one of whom was accused of having sexual contact with the dog while the others watched and filmed—were training at the Academy for Staff Development in Goochland County to become K-9 handlers.
The incidents took place between June 16 and Aug. 1 across the James River at the Powhatan Correctional Center where the kennels are located, Beasley said.
Initially charged with misdemeanor animal cruelty were Kelvin Thompson, 25, of Chatham; Melvin Boone, 40, of Waverly; and Adam R. Webb, 27, Cheri Campbell, 35, and Anthony Eldridge, 33, all of Burkeville.
Eldridge and Boone no longer work for the Department of Corrections, though the department would not say whether they were dismissed or left voluntarily. Thompson, Webb and Campbell have been removed from the canine program but remain employed by the department.
Terry N. Grimes, a Roanoke attorney representing Thompson, who was accused of fondling the animal, said that the others put him up to it, claiming it would allow him greater control over the dog.
Bestiality in Virginia falls under crimes against nature, which is a felony charge but requires “carnal knowledge” of an animal, implying intercourse.
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Reader Reactions
Mine(Yahoo) was messed up too. I contacted them about it,then imported rss feeds from the individual local channels/news etc.
Like yours mine suddenly began to work again.
NOW, in all sincerity…
This was NOT a “hazing”. Let’s face it, BASED ON THE AVAILABLE INFORMATION, this guy was masturbatintg an animal on camera for kicks! Beyond any question in my mind, it should be fully investigated and - IF that is proven to be the case, he and his cronies should be released from future LE duties! I was actually trained in dog-handling by one of the people who TRAINS dog handlers for City of Detroit, Wayne County Michigan, State Hwy Patrol, US Army and just recently for the TSA! If he had ever gotten wind that I was involved in such an incident, he would have kicked me to the curb so quickly it would have made my head spin. Additionally, he’d have notified everyone there was to notify of my actions. (At very least, now we have a dog who has been exposed to homosesuality! - I can’t repress ALL my sarcasm!)
While I don’t believe it is “animal cruelty” per se (as there IS such a thing as artificial insemination for animals and this is a questionably accepted methodology for obtaining semen for that purpose) it is certainly perverse and in this kind of an instance should be considered “beastiality” for legal purposes. I am aware that women have been known to use animals for “service” and of course that is illegal.
All those issues notwithstanding, This is certainly conduct unbecoming an officer and should be treated MUCH more seriously than it appears to be. I think psychological evaluations are in order for ALL involved as well as whatever superior officer(s) have made the decision to treat it lightly.
(How’s that for a “return-back” response, Laura?) I’ve missed both you and Maumi and a couple of the others! but I’M BACK!!
Laura…Maumi and others who may (often times regretably) remember me…
My YAHOO homepage has a box with Columbus Dispatch and NBC4i headline updates on it. For some reason those two boxes have been off-line for over a month now and they just came back online a couple of days ago. I could have gone to the NBC4i and DISPATCH pages themselves, but this is SO much easier to navigate!! Anyway, now that it’s repaired and back online, I’ll be able to return to my usual facetious/sarcastic self!! Thank you for your concern! Should you want to get in touch via email…..please do. My anonymous email address is: unidentified614@yahoo.com. If you’d like, send me an email there, and I’ll respond by giving you my other email address - which is much more personal.
Again, thanks for your concern!!
and these people are here to protect society. They should all be fired and labeled sexual predators, for their pervy actions, It takes a sick individual to think up something like this and have fun videoing it.
Anonymous,where have you been? Maumi is gone too! I look forward to your “always amusing point of view!
That’s why they call it puppy love….
All jokes aside….They all should be fired for sexual harrasment. If someone kills a K-9 its considered killing a police officer. If that is the case then they should be fired for harrasment. If they did that to another CO that is what would happen right?
Hello All! It’s been awhile due to a problem at Yahoo, but they have it fixed now…..
In this case it’s part of a BIGGER problem, so it needs a BIGGER solution…move all these guys from K-9 patrol to horse patrol!!!
(There was no way I could resist that…I tried!!)
I know that things get blown out of proportion at times and I bet this is one of those times. Males dogs show dominience by humping other animals even humans! I bet this guy acted like he was humping the dog and no actual sexual contact was made. Not a big deal just guys being guys.
whodey4life: Thank you!
Last time I checked an animal cannot consent to sexual contact.That is the “rule”,generally speaking,with regards to human sexual contact(consent).This is a crime that is sexual in nature and probably shouldn’t have been viewed as an animal cruelty issue(although I feel sorry for the dog!),but rather an abuse of power issue.Not just for the dog,but for co-workers that could’ve felt as if their jobs were in jeopardy, had they spoken up and/or tried to stop it from occurring.
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