Wilmington teen charged in animal abuse case

By: 
Staff report

     A Wilmington teenager turned himself over to Coal City Police on Thursday one week after a criminal complaint was issued for his arrest on a charge of cruel treatment of an animal.
    Kaleb Findlay, 19, arrived at the police station where the complaint was served. He posted $150 bond and was released with a notice to appear in Grundy County Circuit Court on the morning of Feb. 25.
    A video that showed a man violently abusing a dog was posted to more than one social media page and it prompted a call to Coal City Police on Jan. 31.
    The caller indicated the video showed the man stepping on the dog’s head and neck, as well as picking the canine up and throwing it into a plastic dog carrier.
    Officers immediately accessed the on-line video and based on prior police contacts were able to not only identify Findlay as the individual in the video, but the location where the images were filmed.
    Police went to the Coal City residence and spoke with the dog’s owner who stated the video was taken in spring 2018—March or April. The man pictured was her former boyfriend and after a few months apart she decided to share the video to show, “the type of person he really is.”
    The dog’s owner told police her Jack Russell terrier, Rover,  who was a little over one year old at the time of the alleged abuse showed no signs of injury after the incident. And, it was recently at the vet and is healthy.
    The charge is a class A misdemeanor.
    Editor’s note: Persons named in criminal complaints are innocent of all charges until proven guilty in a court of law.