David Neanover Butler County, Ohio man sentenced for deprived animal companion of food, pet dog was forced to eat rocks before dying of starvation.
An Ohio man has been sentenced to 180 days in jail for starving to death a dog that was so hungry it ate rocks.
Judge Robert Lyons on Thursday sentenced David Neanover, 36, of Reily Township on two misdemeanor counts of cruelty to a companion animal.
The Butler County man’s sentencing follows a flurry of animal lovers urging Neanover receiving the most punitive punishment for his treatment of a 2-year-old Doberman pinscher called Lou.
‘I am asking for the full extent of the law. To let a sweet, innocent soul live in filth, no food or water, no love or kind treatment…(Neanover) even named him Lucifer when in actuality, this person should be called that,’ one letter writer, whose name is blacked out in court records, said.
‘If I was a judge, these people who abuse animals would get to experience what they did to animals. Animals are just baby souls in different bodies.’
Animal abuser also pled guilty to other charges involving violence:
Neanover earlier pleaded no contest in Area 1 Court in Oxford to the cruelty charges against him, cincinnati.com reports.
Judge Lyons sentenced Neanover to 180 days on one cruelty charge and 90 days on the other, a Butler County court clerk said.
She said the sentences will run concurrently, which means at the same time.
But there’s more.
Neanover was also sentenced to 180 days in jail on a domestic violence charge, to which Neanover had pleaded guilty, and ordered that sentence to be served concurrently with the animal abuse sentences.
‘X-rays showed rocks in his stomach. This we did not expect, but we are not surprised.’
Dog wardens went to Neanover’s home in April 2019 after anonymous complaints and found Lou had no food or water, was covered in severe open wounds and was obviously starving, Butler County Sheriff Richard Jones said at the time.
The dog was taken to the Animal Friends Humane Society in Hamilton, and X-rays showed he’d eaten rocks.
‘X-rays showed rocks in his stomach. This we did not expect, but we are not surprised. He lived his life on a VERY short-chain and was deprived of food for quite some time, so we’re sure he got to the point where he was willing to eat anything that he could get his mouth on. He is missing a chunk of his tongue,’ Animal Friends Humane Society said at the time.
Lou later died.
It remained unclear why the pet owner starved his companion animal.
Neanover is currently serving his sentence at Butler County Jail.
