A township man is facing four charges of animal cruelty after he beat and nearly killed his pet pit bull, police said. Charles J. DaRoja, 35, of Pleasant Valley Road, was arrested the night of July 22 and charged with cruelty to an animal, failure to provide an animal with food and water, abandoning an animal and maiming an animal.
Police Lt. Colleen McNamara, Old Bridge�s animal control officer, was notified of the situation by a Pleasant Valley Road area resident.
�I was told [a] neighbor had beat his dog to death and put it in a Dumpster,� McNamara said, though police would later find the dog alive, but injured, under DaRoja�s house. Police said DaRoja would later tell them that the beating was in self-defense.
When McNamara went to DaRoja�s home to investigate the report, she could see that a dog had lived in the backyard, but there was no sign of the animal. Flies, she said, were abundant and the yard smelled.
DaRoja�s roommate, she said, told her that he hadn�t seen the dog in two days. The dog�s water bowl, usually outside, was indoors and upside down.
A further look outside the house, McNamara said, revealed signs of violence. Blood, she said, was on the siding, a door and the ground near the house.
�It looked like it had been cleaned up, like it had been bleached,� McNamara said.
She found the dog under the foundation, its hindquarters sticking out.
The 4-year-old pit bull, named Boo, had been severely beaten, McNamara said. Its scull was cracked and part of its brain exposed. An eye also appeared badly injured. The dog seemed dazed, she noted.
According to a complaint McNamara filed against DaRoja, the pit bull had been left in the backyard for two days after the beating, without food or water � in 90-degree heat.
She called the Middlesex County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, which took the pit bull in for immediate medical care. The state SPCA, she added, also got involved.
McNamara found a container of bleach and a wire brush inside the house, she said. Both were seized for evidence.
McNamara said she had trouble reaching DaRoja initially, and when she finally spoke to him, he said the dog had attacked him, and that he beat the dog with a bat in defense.
The pit bull, McNamara said Tuesday, is alive, and is still receiving medical treatment.
�It�s kind of a miracle dog,� she said. �It�s a real sweet dog.�
McNamara noted that it is possible that DaRoja, who was also cited for failure to provide an animal with medical treatment, will be indicted for the alleged beating. He has also been charged through the SPCA, and may have to pay veterinarian costs, she said. Case Updates| Posted on Aug 29, 2005 - 3:18PM | To send a polite letter to the prosecutor in this case, write to:
The Honorable Bruce J. Kaplan, Prosecutor
Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office
25 Kirkpatrick Street, 3rd Floor
New Brunswick, NJ 08901
Email: [email protected]
Fax: 732-745-2791
Phone: 732-745-3332 |
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