Man Found Guilty Of Animal Cruelty In Puppy Doe Trial
DEDHAM (CBS) -- A jury found a man guilty of animal cruelty charges after his dog was found tortured so severely that it needed to be euthanized in 2013.
Radoslaw Czerkawski, 36, was charged with 12 counts of animal cruelty. He faced and was found not guilty of one witness intimidation/misleading police charge.
The year-old pit female bull mix was found in a Quincy park with fractures, a stab wound, and a split tongue. The starving dog that came to be known as Puppy Doe.
Czerkawski is already in prison on unrelated larceny convictions. In 2015, he was sentenced to three to five years in jail for stealing $130,000 from an elderly woman he was caring for.
He will be sentenced on Tuesday.
Kara Holmquist, director of advocacy for the MSPCA-Angell, responded to the verdict with a statement: "Today's verdict underscores the strong cruelty case brought by the Norfolk District Attorney, and we hope the sentencing is commensurate with the suffering endured by Puppy Doe. With increasing attention to animal cruelty issues, we look forward to the legislature's action on S. 2347 (PAWS II – Protecting Animal Welfare and Safety), a bill that would further strengthen the Commonwealth's anti-cruelty laws and that passed the Senate just over a week ago. Passage of this bill by the House, and signature by the Governor, will help ensure other animals never endure what Puppy Doe suffered."
