AR-News: (USA) NJ: HE BURNED EARS OF HIS 2 DOGS! PLS. WRITE! sample letter

[molly]

> > A Seaside Heights, New Jersey man has been arrested for setting his 2
dogs
> on fire.
> >
> > WHAT TO WRITE:
> >
> > Please send POLITE letters to the Ocean County Prosecutor, urging that
the
> case be thoroughly investigated and strongly prosecuted and that maximum
> penalties (maximum jail term and fine) be sought. In addition, Ronald
> Fredericks should be prohibited from ever harboring or working with
animals
> and should receive mandatory psychological counseling. Urge the Prosecutor
> to NOT allow *Pre-Trial Intervention (see below, for definition of PTI)
for
> Fredericks.
> >
> > * The definition of Pre-Trial Intervention, as per the web site for the
> Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office
> > (http://prosecutor.co.monmouth.nj.us/units/screening.htm) is: Defendants
> permitted to participate in the Pre-Trial Intervention program (PTI
program)
> are diverted from the formal criminal process into supervisory treatment,
> which can last from one to three years. Those who successfully complete
the
> program receive dismissal of their charges. As a result, PTI is generally
> reserved for defendants with no or minor prior criminal records who are
> charged with non-violent offenses.
> >
> > Senior Assistant Prosecutor Robert Scott
> > Ocean County Prosecutor's Office
> > 119 Hooper Avenue
> > PO Box 2191
> > Toms River, New Jersey 08754
> > Fax: 732-929-2145
> > BBlume at co.ocean.nj.us
> >
> > *****************
> > Submit letters to: yourviews at app.com
> >
> > [photos of the dogs are in the online story]
> > http://www.app.com/app/story/0,21625,943370,00.html
> >
> >
> >
> > Owner jailed, dogs rescued after they were set afire
> > Published in the Asbury Park Press 4/13/04
> > By A. SCOTT FERGUSON
> > TOMS RIVER BUREAU
> >
> > SEASIDE HEIGHTS -- A 36-year-old Franklin Avenue man, accused of dousing
> his two dogs with a spray lubricant and setting them on fire, faces eight
> charges of animal cruelty, authorities said.
> >
> > Anonymous tips to the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals
led
> investigators to Ronald Fredericks' apartment yesterday morning.
> >
> > "We responded to that location and saw the conditions of the dogs and
> placed him under arrest," SPCA Investigator Scott Watkins said. Fredericks
> was arrested without incident, Watkins said.
> >
> > Watkins said he had n! ever before seen this type of abuse.
> >
> > The dogs, a Pekingese named Poppy and a shepherd mix named Shadow, were
> taken to Popco
> >
> >
> >
> > SAMPLE LETTER TO EDIT AND MAKE YOUR OWN
> >
> >
> >
> > I write with deep concern about ______ charged with cruelty to an animal
> by _________.  This crime is sickening.  Please seek the maximum jail
> sentence and fine, as well as mandatory psychological counseling. I also
> request that ______ be prohibited from owning or harboring animals, under
> any circumstances.
> >
> > As you may know, a U.S. Department of Justice report identifies the link
> between violence against animals and violence against humans.
Criminologists
> concur that the intensity of a violent crime--not the identity of the
> victim--is the most significant factor in cruelty/abuse cases.  In an
> inquiry conducted by the MSPCA and Northeastern University, 70% of animal
> abusers had accumulated one or more unrelated crimes and nearly 40% had
> committed brutal crimes against people.  Extreme cruelty rarely occurs in
> isolated pieces. "In all likelihood, it is not confined to animals," Dr.
> Yvonne Neiman says.  In one widely published survey of animal cruelty
among
> criminals and non -criminals, 25 percent of aggressive criminals confessed
> to five or more acts of animal torture, compared to under six percent for
> non-aggressive criminals.
> > Please see attachment below.
> >
> >  ______ is the classic criminal whose rage against an animal should be
> recognized as a precursor to violence against humans.  I appeal to the
> justice system to overcome a customary but perplexing unwillingness to
> sufficiently penalize those who victimize animals.  This animal was
> undoubtedly as innocent and defenseless as a small child. But unlike the
> child, the animal's torment is not universally recognized as a violent
crime
> with clear-cut penalties. Law enforcers typically treat cruelty cases as
> secondary offenses and sentencing often hinges upon the subjective view of
> judges.   Lenient penalties do not prevent further violence against
innocent
> animals or people and may allow offenders such as _______to vent future
rage
> against family or society.
> >
> >  ALL crimes that ruthlessly disregard life warrant stiff incarceration
and
> fines. In addition, rage against animals is considered a precursor to
> violence against humans.  Please treat animal abuse with the seriousness
it
> deserves, so that offenders such as ______ don't slip through the justice
> system.
> >
> >
> > ATTACHMENT: ANIMAL VICTIMS / HUMAN VICTIMS:
> > REPORTS FROM POLICE CASE FILES
> >
> > Russell Weston Jr., tortured and killed 12 cats: burned and cut off
their
> tails, paws, ears; poured toxic chemicals in their eyes to blind them;
> forced them to ingest poison, hung them from trees (the noose loose enough
> to create a slow and painful death.) Later killed 2 officers at the U.S.
> Capitol in Washington, DC.
> >
> > Jeffery Dahmer staked cats to trees and decapitated dogs. Later he
> dissected boys, and kept their body parts in the refrigerator. Murdered 17
> men.
> >
> > Kip Kinkle shot 25 classmates and killed several in Springfield, Oregon.
> He killed his father and mother. Said he blew up a cow once . Set a live
cat
> on fire and dragged the innocent creature through the main street of town.
> Classmates rated him as "Most Likely to Start
> > World War 3."
> >
> > As a boy, Albert De Salvo, the "Boston Strangler," placed a dog and cat
in
> a crate with a partition between them. After starving the animals for
days,
> he removed the partition to watch them kill each other. He raped and
killed
> 13 women by strangulation. He often posed  bodies in a shocking manner
after
> their murders.
> >
> > Richard Allen Davis set numerous cats on fire. He killed all of Polly
> Klaus' animals before abducting and murdering Polly Klaus, aged 12, from
her
> bedroom.
> >
> > 11-year-old Andrew Golden and 13-year-old Mitchell Johnson tortured and
> killed dogs. On March 24, 1998, in Jonesboro, Arkansas, Golden and Johnson
> shot and killed 4 students and 1 teacher during a fire drill at their
> school.
> >
> > After 16-year-old Luke Woodham mortally stabbed his mother, killed 2
> classmates and shot 7 others, he confessed to bludgeoning his dog Sparkle
> with baseball bats and pouring liquid fuel down her throat and to set fire
> to her neck. "I made my first kill today," he wrote in his
court-subpoenaed
> journal. "It was a loved one...I¹ll never forget the howl she made. It
> sounded almost human." In June 1998, Woodham was found guilty of 3 murders
> and 7 counts of aggravated assault. He was sentenced to 3 life sentences
and
> an additional 20 years for each assault.
> >
> > Theodore Robert Bundy, executed in 1989 for at least 50 murders, was
> forced to witness a grandfather who tortured animals. Bundy later heaped
> graves with animal bones.
> >
> > At 4-years-old, Michael Cartier dislocated the legs of rabbits and
hurled
> a kitten through a closed window. He later shot Kristin Lardner 3 times in
> the head, before shooting himself.
> >
> > Henry Lee Lucas killed numerous animals and had sex with their corpses.
He
> killed his mother, common law wife, and an unknown number of people.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > Edward Kemperer cut up 2 cats. He later killed his grandparents, mother
> and 7 other women.
> >
> > Richard Speck threw a bird into a ventilator fan. Killed 8 women.
> >
> > Randy Roth taped a cat to a car's engine and used an industrial sander
on
> a frog. Killed 2 of his wives and attempted to kill a third.
> >
> > David Richard Davis shot and killed 2 healthy ponies, threw a wine
bottle
> at a pair of kittens and hunted with illegal methods. Murdered his wife,
> Shannon Mohr Davis, for insurance money.
> >
> > Peter Kurten, the Dusseldorf Monster, tortured dogs, and practiced
> bestiality while killing animals. He went on to murder or attempt to
murder
> over 50 men, women and children.
>
>