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Chief ranger at Lake Anna State Park had posted about the incident on his MySpace page, Spotsylvania animal control official says. The body of the shepherd mix was found soon afterward. Date published: 4/24/2008
BY ELLEN BILTZ
A Lake Anna State Park chief ranger was convicted this month of animal cruelty for shooting his pet dog and dumping the animal’s remains in the lake. Now his job is in limbo. John Joseph Miller Jr., 32, was found guilty April 11 of animal cruelty and dumping trash illegally, according to online court records. Miller, who had been working for about a year at the park, is now under administrative review by the state park, but he is still an employee, said Doug Graham, park manager. William Tydings, Spotsylvania County's director of animal control, said his department began investigating Miller in January when they found a post on his MySpace page about shooting the pet. He was charged that month and the body of the shepherd mix was recovered from Lake Anna soon after, Tydings said. Graham said he assisted the animal control office with recovery of the dog after learning of Miller’s charges. Miller, whose job was two-fold - maintaining upkeep throughout the park as well as enforcing conservation laws - is working only in the first of those capacities while his job is under review, Graham said. The park manager said Miller’s position was being discussed in a meeting yesterday, but because it was considered a personnel matter, Graham would not provide more details about the review. He said administrative review is the park’s procedure for employees who are convicted of criminal behavior, but he said this is the first time he knew of that a dog had been shot and dumped in the lake. According to online court records, Miller was ordered to pay $250 for each of his April convictions, but was not sentenced to any jail time. Both charges were misdemeanors.
Ellen Biltz: 540/374-5424
sounds like to me they were watching him for something else... ( on myspace) and stumbled into the dog shooting. sounds like there more that meets the eye on this..
Sorry, folks, but I just don't understand why the government gets involved when someone decides to put down his pet dog. I can understand why dumping the dead animal in the lake might be a problem but why is shooting a dog any worse than putting down larger animals such as horses.
Why would someone dump a carcass in Lake Anna? I mean to shoot the dog is horrible and he should be jailed, fined, shot, whatever, but to dump a decaying carcass into the Lake where my kids swim and play how disgusting.
What a terrible thing to do. Wow. I don't even want to know how he thought shooting his dog would be justified. But yay for MySpace! If only more people who break the law would do what this guy did.
If this guy thought no more of shooting his dog and then bragging about it on myspace, what else could he be capable of doing? This is not a person that I would want working where he would have contact with children and animals which both frequent Lake Anna State Park! FIRE HIM NOW!
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