Police Charge Genoa Man with Cruelty to Animals

Genoa police have charged a Genoa Man with cruelty to animals in a case that may leave you scratching your head.

When I hear about anyone being abusive to animals, my blood starts to boil, so I looked into this further, to find out the circumstances, and this case, it is not what it appears and many questions still need to be answered.

On Thursday, Genoa Police issued a press release that stated that 'Jusin J Lampard' was cited for animal cruelty because of an incident that took place on March 1st. The report states:

On March 1, 2017 police received a report of a dog abandoned in an apartment without food or water when the tenants moved out days prior. Animal Control was called and took possession of the dog. On March 9, 2017 police obtained information concerning the renters and Jusin J. Lampard, 28 years of age, of Genoa was cited for Cruelty to Animals.

Genoa Police, like many departments nowadays, post many of their press releases on Facebook. Once something is posted on social media, everyone has access to it and in the case of Facebook, has the ability to also comment.

As I read through the comments, I found out there was a lot more to this story. which leads me to believe this case may not stand up in court.

Alexandra Marie, Justin Lampert's girlfriend and apartment roommate, tells what happened a different way. The name of the dog is Buggles. Alexandra says that she and Lampert were in the process of moving out of their Genoa apartment to move into her mom's house.  Her mother was rushed to hospital on moving day  and that's why Buggles was at the apartment. Alexandra's mother has stage 4 terminal cancer.

The police report implies the dog was left alone for more than one day. Alexandra says it was one day, and not even the entire day.

They claim that he was left behind for multiple days but there was no pee or poop in his cage therefore that should tell someone that I did not leave him behind.

The dog was taken out multiple times during the day and I was at the apartment during the day packing and moving stuff.  I told the landlord I would be out after March 1st they took my dog on March 1st. I still have the keys to the apartment and I still was living there.

As far as whether there as food for Buggles, Alexandra tells me that Lampart says that in the apartment there was dog food in the cabinet water and his dish.

What doesn't make sense is that police said: "DeKalb County Animal Control took possession of the dog." However, the dog was returned to the owners almost immediately, by the Malta vet.

It should be noted, in animal cruelty cases, the animal is almost never returned.

Alexandra says:

I've had him since he was 5 weeks old I would never leave my dog behind. I could never be that heartless people are fast to judge and I'm done defending myself

I applaud the Genoa PD for taking steps when alleged animal abuse is reported, but this case warrants further investigation as the press release issued by the Genoa Police department is extremely vague.

Did police bungle the case of 'buggles'? By the way, Buggles the dog is doing great!

You can read the original press release HERE along with all the comments.