COLUMBUS, Ind. — A local man accused of cruelty to an animal has been arrested by Bartholomew County Sheriff deputies and is being held without bond in the county jail.
Benjamin D. Collins, 35, of 596 Falcon Drive, Columbus, was booked into the Bartholomew County Jail at 7:47 p.m. Thursday, jail records indicate.
Besides cruelty to an animal, Collins was also wanted on a petition to revoke probation, according to Bartholomew County Sheriff Department spokeswoman Judy Jackson.
Last June, Collins was placed on probation for 18 months after admitting in court he made a false statement regarding his criminal history. When the cruelty to animal charge was filed, prosecutors also filed paperwork that accused Collins of breaking the terms of his suspended sentence.
In regard to the dog, the case against Collins was outlined in a probable cause affidavit filed Tuesday by sheriff department Detective William R. Kinman Jr.
Kinman wrote that on Nov. 2, he was assigned to investigate a three-week-old report of animal cruelty at Collins’ home on Falcon Drive regarding a Mastiff mix dog named Thor. Kinman wrote that he was told by Bartholomew County Animal Control Officer Mark Case that he had received a call of concern about Thor’s well-being from Tammie Hawley, who lived next door to Collins.
When Case located the dog, Thor appeared to be in poor health, so he took the animal to the Bartholomew County Humane Society, Kinman wrote. After being examined by a veterinarian technician, Thor was taken to “Tails of Freedom,” a rescue and rehabilitation center for animals in Sellersburg, according to court documents.
The detective also wrote that while Case provided him with three photographs showing the canine looking extremely skinny, the animal control officer said he could not determine if the dog was not being fed — or if the dog was suffering from a medical condition.
When he began discussing the matter with the dog’s owner, Case said Collins told him he had been feeding Purina Beneful dog food to the Mastiff mix, the affidavit states.
It was during this interview that Collins told Case he had been upset with his neighbors because they had been feeding and watering his dog. Later, Hawley told the detective that Collins had confronted both her and her life partner because they had contacted Case, Kinman wrote.
It wasn’t the first time Thor had been seen by the Sellersburg rescue group. He had also been treated there in 2019 for possible abuse, Kinman wrote.
By the time the detective made contact with rescue center representative Bobbie Jo Becker, Thor had already died and was scheduled to be sent to Purdue University for a necropsy, an animal autopsy. Kinman wrote he was told that while a Mastiff mix the size and breed of Thor should weigh near 150 pounds, the canine only weighed 72 pounds shortly before his death.
This photo, provided by the Change 4 Bartholomew County Animal Advocacy group, shows Thor’s condition prior to his death.
Photo provided
For the complete story, see Saturday’s Republic.
