[ SHOWGSD-L ] PETA worker charged with theft of hunting dog ... Virginia
- From: Peggy <pmick12@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: gsd list <Showgsd-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 28 Jun 2007 00:11:34 -0400
One of two PETA employees arrested for dog-napping a Walker hound in
Southampton County last October had a felony grand larceny charge
certified to the grand jury yesterday. A second charge of tracking
collar theft was dropped, demonstrating the need for last General
Assembly session's successful Scott-Stolle criminal penalty bill. It's
extremely important that the local Commonwealth Attorney's (CA) Office
understand how seriously dog owners consider this alleged theft and
press this felony prosecution without plea bargains or wavering. PETA
has hired one of the most experienced and accomplished criminal defense
attorneys in Virginia for this case. Don't let the PETA NC dog killing
is only littering travesty happen in our state.
*Please contact Southampton CA Eric A. Cooke and Assistant CA Steve W.
Edwards at (757) 653-2045. Thank them for their laudable efforts to-date
and urge them to vigorously press this prosecution. They will need a
great deal of support fighting PETA's $ millions.*
The Virginia-Pilot trial story is reproduced below. Another first-hand
report containing the PETA experienced perspective of the Center for
Consumer Freedom's Dave Martosko may be found at
http://www.consumerfreedom.com/news_detail.cfm/headline/3391
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Southside
hunting dog owners will be interested in the charging documents
reproduced at CCF's site.
Sincerely,
Bob Kane, President
Virginia Hunting Dog Owners' Association
http://vhdoa.uplandbirddog.com/
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http://content.hamptonroads.com/story.cfm?story=127403&ran=159617
<http://content.hamptonroads.com/story.cfm?story=127403&ran=159617>
PETA worker charged with theft of deputy's hunting dog
By DAVE FORSTER, The Virginian-Pilot
© June 27, 2007
Last updated: 9:09 AM
COURTLAND
A judge on Tuesday allowed a felony theft charge to proceed against a
PETA worker who picked up an unattended hunting dog later found to
belong to a sheriff's deputy.
The attorney for Andrea Florence Benoit, 25, said Benoit was worried
about the dog's welfare and wanted only to return it to its owner. She
saw the fox hound October while working in Southampton County for
Norfolk-based People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.
Benoit and a co-worker, Carrie Beth Edwards, 26, were driving a van
marked "Community Animal Project" about 10 a.m. Oct. 25 when they
stopped along Va. 35 to pick up the animal. They were on their way to
make a pre-arranged house call in the area, Benoit's attorney, Stephen
D. Benjamin, said.
Prosecutors dropped their case against Edwards on Tuesday.
A motorist who saw one of the women placing the dog in the van testified
Tuesday that the scene "didn't look right," so he called Southampton
County Sheriff's Deputy J.T. Cooke Jr., an animal control officer for
the county. Cooke found the van a few minutes later and discovered his
Walker hound in the back.
Cooke testified that he had let out several of his hounds the night
before to chase foxes, and one failed to return. The dog carried dye
markings of numbers on its side and "JT" on its hip and wore a neon
yellow collar bearing Cooke's name and cell phone number, Cooke said. It
also had been outfitted with an orange collar fitted with an antenna
that could track the animal for three to four miles.
By the time he found the PETA van, Cooke had received a second call
alerting him that a dog that was likely his had been spotted in the
area. So when Cooke stopped the van, he asked the driver - Benoit -
whether she had just picked up a dog.
According to Cooke's testimony, they had the following conversation:
"No," she told him.
"You didn't just pick up a dog with zeroes on the side and 'JT' on the
leg?" replied Cooke, who was in his sheriff's vehicle and uniform.
"Oh, you mean that dog. Yeah, it's in the back," Benoit responded.
Cooke saw that the dog no longer had on its tracking collar and asked
Benoit where it was.
"I don't know what you're talking about," she told him.
The tracking collar was found near the side of the road where the dog
was picked up. Benjamin said in court that the women had removed it. He
said they were right to do so; otherwise they could have been charged
with stealing the collar, he argued.
The prosecution dropped the charge of stealing the collar against
Benoit, and both charges against Edwards.
The women were following PETA policy by not directly trying to contact
the dog's owner through the phone number on the other collar, Benjamin
said. They intended to call their office so PETA could reach Cooke,
Benjamin said.
The hound was on its way home before they picked it up, prosecutor Steve
Edwards said in his closing argument.
"The one thing that would have made it difficult to get the dog out of
the county was left in the ditch," he said, referring to the tracking
collar.
"What we have here is a hound that was picked up by an organization from
another jurisdiction to do who-knows-what with it," Steve Edwards said.
General District Judge Robert B. Edwards said he had no doubt that
Benoit believed she was doing the right thing, "but the right thing in
this case was a felony."
The case will now be set for a trial in Circuit Court.
Dave Forster, (757) 222-5563, dave.forster@pilotonline
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