Benjamin Collins
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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.
Although a mass was found on the dog, Becker said it should not have caused death, but should have been treated by a veterinarian, the affidavit stated. She also advised that Thor’s kidneys were working double time and the liver numbers were high due to him starving, Kinman wrote.
Becker also advised that dog’s muscles had broken down to the degree where his bones could be counted due to his large loss of weight.
While Becker said that she would send Kinman photographs and a copy of the necropsy when the results came back, she became “upset” and began questioning why Thor was sent back to Collins in 2019 for similar mistreatment.
In Bethel Village, Hawley told the detective she had been trying to feed and water Thor for three years, because he was left outside with no food, no water and no shelter other than a pine tree that was in the backyard, the affidavit stated.
Hawley said she decided to call Case in mid-October after seeing Thor had become so thin that his back legs looking like “shovels,” Kinman wrote. While Bartholomew County Animal Control told Hawley they would take Thor to the humane society and fine the owner, the dog would still probably be returned to the owner and that charges were not filed last time Thor was taken in 2019, the detective stated in court documents.
