Initial Hearing June 6th
LIBERTY, Ind. -- A 14-year-old Union County boy accused of killing two dogs and burglarizing a home on Watt Road on Tuesday was returned to a secure detention center after a hearing Thursday in Union Circuit Court.
An initial hearing for the youth will be held June 6, Union County Probation Officer Don Isaac said. Isaac declined to identify the detention center where the boy is being held.
A petition alleging the youth committed delinquent acts will be filed soon, Isaac said. The acts, if committed by an adult, would be charged as burglary, a Class B felony; two counts of animal cruelty, residential entry and criminal mischief, Class D felonies; reckless possession of paraphernalia, resisting law enforcement and trespassing, Class A misdemeanors; and minor consuming alcohol, a Class C misdemeanor, Isaac said.
The investigation into the case is continuing, Isaac said. An attorney was appointed to represent the youth.
The dogs, a Pomeranian and a pug mix, suffered stab wounds and blunt trauma, apparently having been killed by a broken wine cooler bottle on which dog hair and skin were found, according to the Indiana State Police.
The case of animal cruelty has drawn a lot of media attention from Indianapolis and Cincinnati television stations. Peg Hartman, secretary at the Union County Prosecutor's Office, said media calls to the office began at 2 p.m. Wednesday and didn't stop until about noon Thursday.
The state police were called to the home of Tina and Greg Schneider on Tuesday, after the Schneiders' teen-aged children came home from school and found their home had been ransacked and their dogs missing. The teens told officers that there had been a "falling out" with a neighbor boy after he took one of their vehicles for a joy ride, officers said.
The boy denied being at the Schneider home, but after an argument with his father he fled. Deputies from the Union County Sheriff's Office apprehended him in a foot chase.
Officers found a DVD player, alcohol and clothing in the boy's room, items that were missing from the Schneider home.
A pair of bloody pants that his father said belonged to the boy was found near one of the dogs by a nearby creek.
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