[StBernard] Louisiana SPCA says St. Bernard man dropped off different pit bull before video of dog abuse

[Westley Annis]

Louisiana SPCA says St. Bernard man dropped off different pit bull before
video of dog abuse
Print Benjamin Alexander-Bloch, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune By Benjamin
Alexander-Bloch, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune 
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on April 08, 2014 at 7:26 PM, updated April 08, 2014 at 9:27 PM

The Louisiana Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals said on
Tuesday that the Violet man filmed putting on a boxing glove and beating his
dog until the animal appeared to be unconscious had dropped off a different
pit bull before the  video was made. Louisiana SPCA communications Alicia
Haefele said the man never gave the shelter the dog shown in the video.

Also on Tuesday, the St. Bernard Parish Sheriff's Office stated that the
video released of the man beating the dog occurred in December 2012, a year
earlier than sheriff's officials had stated on Monday.

The statements raise questions as to whether the pit bull seen the video
survived the attack. Sheriff's Office spokesman Steve Cannizaro said on
Tuesday that the Sheriff's Office is investigating the matter.

Asani Woods, 21, of the 2400 block of St. Matthew Circle, was booked on
charges of aggravated cruelty to his dog on March 28, after Woods was
identified as the man in the video, according to the Sheriff's Office. The
video released by the Sheriff's Office shows a man lifting a pit bull off
the ground by its neck and then taking her to the trash, which the dog
apparently had scattered across the kitchen floor.

St. Bernard Sheriff Jimmy Pohlmann said on Monday that Woods had told
sheriff's officials that he had taken Tiger to the SPCA facility in Algiers,
but Cannizaro and Haefele said on Tuesday that Woods' statement was
inaccurate. Neither the St. Bernard nor Jefferson shelters had any records
of Woods dropping of a pit bull to them either.

Woods dropped off a pit bull to the SPCA shelter on the West Bank on April
1, 2012, according to Haefele and Cannizaro. Haefele said the pit bull Woods
dropped off that month was a stray dog that showed no signs of abuse and
that while SPCA tried to identify its owner, they were unable to, and that
the dog was euthanized later that month.

She said the pit bull given to the shelter in April 2012 was a female dog,
whereas the one the in video was a male dog.

Cannizaro said on Tuesday that the video was made on Dec. 14, 2012.

While the sheriff previously had said that the video was made in December
2013, Cannizaro said that there initially was a mistake identifying the
video's proper time stamp.

And while the Sheriff's Office stated on Monday that the pit pull in the
video had been taken to the SPCA shelter on the West Bank in January 2014
and euthanized there that month, Haefele said that there had been some
"conversational confusion" during a conversation between an SPCA dispatcher
and a sheriff's official.

Aggravated cruelty to animals can carry a fine of between $5,000 and
$25,000, or imprisonment for between one and 10 years in prison, or both.
Charges can be filed within four years of the crime, according to state law.