CLEVELAND Ohio — A 20-year-old woman who killed an 8-week-old puppy and was prosecuted under a recently passed state law that makes animal abuse a felony did not show up to her sentencing.
Judge Joseph D. Russo ordered a bench warrant Monday after Deanna Caraballo did not show up to his Cuyahoga County courtroom.
Caraballo was released on a personal bond Jan. 12, the same day she pleaded guilty to cruelty against a companion animal, a fifth-degree felony. Prosecutors said Caraballo slammed an 8-week-old puppy into the ground during an argument with her boyfriend at a home in Cleveland. The force of the impact killed the dog, and an 11-year-old boy found the wounded animal, records say.
As part of her bond, Caraballo was ordered to undergo court supervision, including drug tests. She showed up for a Jan. 24 meeting at the probation department, then “disappeared off the face of the earth,” Caraballo’s lawyer, David Kraus, said.
Caraballo was arrested in October, about a month after “Goddard’s Law” went into effect. The law, named after longtime WJW meteorologist Dick Goddard, made abuse of a companion animal a fifth-degree felony, rather than a misdemeanor.
Goddard spent years advocating for harsher penalties against people who abuse animals.
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