COLUMBUS, Ohio, June 25 (UPI) -- A 43-year-old firefighter in Columbus, Ohio, pleaded guilty to charges he killed his two dogs to avoid the expense of housing them while he was on a cruise.
The Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch said Wednesday that David P. Santuomo pleaded guilty to two counts of animal cruelty and one count of possessing a criminal tool in relation to the deaths of his two dogs Sloopy and Skeeter.
In response, Franklin County Municipal Judge Harland H. Hale sentenced the Columbus firefighter to 90 days in jail and ordered him to pay a $150 fine.
In addition, Santuomo was order to pay $4,500 in compensation for the county's investigation into the killings. The compensation will also go to the Capital Area Humane Society, from which Santuomo had adopted the dogs.
Authorities had accused Santuomo of fatally shooting the dogs in his basement then wrapping their bodies in plastic and dumping them in an area trash bin.
The Dispatch said Santuomo still has to face an internal disciplinary hearing regarding his firefighting job.
