Firefighter gets 90 days for killing pet dogs

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — A judge has given a 90-day jail sentence to an Ohio firefighter who prosecutors say killed his dogs to avoid boarding them during a vacation with a girlfriend.

Forty-three-year-old David Santuomo of Columbus pleaded guilty Wednesday to two counts of animal cruelty and one count of possession of a criminal tool. That charge concerned a plastic bottle that authorities said was used as a rifle silencer.

Assistant Franklin County Prosecutor Heather Robinson said Santuomo shot his two mixed-breed dogs Sloopy and Skeeter multiple times on Dec. 3 after tying them to a pipe in his basement. She says he dumped the remains in a trash bin behind his firehouse.

Defense attorney Sam Shamansky called the crime an isolated event “totally out of character” for his client.