TOLEDO -- An employee of the Lucas County Dog Warden has been placed on paid administrative leave and has been charged with animal cruelty after an incident was caught on tape.
In surveillance video, released by The Lucas County Dog Warden, 26-year-old Aaron Nova is allegedly seen picking a dog up by the neck, slamming the animal into a cage and then tossing it into a kennel.
The Lucas County Dog Warden, Julie Lyle, says the incident happened after the dog got loose during a cleaning of the adoption area.
"In the process of putting the dog back in its kennel, the employee carries the dog and puts him back in the kennel in an inappropriate manner," Lyle said of Nova.
Lyle discovered the incident during a review of the pound's security tape but not until after the dog, named "Marbles", had already been adopted.
"The dog has been to the vet and is doing just fine," Lyle said.
Still, Lyle says the disciplinary process against Nova is on-going, as is the criminal case against him.
"We want to treat the public and the animals with as much respect as we can and to serve them to the best of our ability. Handling a dog in this way is not necessary and it isn't doing things to the best of our ability," Lyle added.
Working with the Toledo Area Humane Society, Nova has been charged with a second-degree misdemeanor.
According to the Toledo Blade, Nova has a criminal history of violence.
The article says that, earlier this year, he pleaded no contest and was found guilty of domestic violence, knowingly causing or attempt to cause physical harm to family or household member, and also an assault charge, after striking the mother of his daughter with his fist and trying to pull her out of a motor vehicle.
The 6-year-long Dog Warden employee was then sentenced May 3 to a six-month suspended jail sentence and two years of probation.
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