COLUMBUS, Ohio – A judge has given a 90-day jail sentence to an Ohio firefighter accused of killing his dogs to avoid boarding them while he went on vacation.
Forty-three-year-old David Santuomo of Columbus pleaded guilty Wednesday to two counts of animal cruelty and one count of possession of a criminal tool — a homemade silencer he used on the end of a rifle.
Assistant Franklin County Prosecutor Heather Robinson says Santuomo shot his two mixed-breed dogs Sloopy and Skeeter on Dec. 3 after tying them to a pipe in his basement. She says he dumped the remains in a trash bin behind his firehouse.
Prosecutors have said he bragged about the killings to colleagues.
Defense attorney Sam Shamansky calls the crime an isolated event "totally out of character" for his client.
Get all the stories you need-to-know from the most powerful name in news delivered first thing every morning to your inbox