Monday, February 29, 2016

Indiana: Abandoned, dead dogs lead to cruelty charges against William Brandenburg, 26, and Jessica Brandenburg, 19

INDIANA -- The discovery of two abandoned dogs – one malnourished and the other dead – found chained outside a mobile home has resulted in criminal charges against a Winchester couple.

William Brandenburg, 26, and Jessica Brandenburg, 19, are each charged with cruelty to an animal, a Class A misdemeanor carrying up to a year in jail.


According to court documents filed by Randolph County Prosecutor David Daly’s office, a sheriff’s deputy was sent to a mobile home in the 1600 block of West Ind. 32 on Jan. 25 after receiving a report of abandoned dogs there.

Deputy Jerry Hammons reported one dog was found secured to a tree with a “cable lead line,” and had no access to food or water.


Another dog was found dead “under a makeshift shelter” that was full of trash and debris, the deputy wrote. That animal’s “skeletal structure was visible throughout the whole body,” he added, and there was was no food or water nearby.

The dead animal was also on a wire lead.

In another report, animal control officer Joe Sheets wrote that the surviving dog’s choker chain had “dug into the animal’s neck,” causing scarring and hair loss.

Taken to the Winchester Animal Shelter,  the canine was given buckets of water and food, and “attempted to devour both buckets,” Sheets added.


The property’s landlord identified the Brandenburgs as the most recent occupants of the mobile home. She reported no one had been seen there for about two weeks.


Initial hearings in the animal cruelty cases are set for March 16 in Randolph Superior Court.

William Brandenburg is set to stand trial in the same court March 18 on a domestic battery charge filed last June.

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