Dwayne Sumter left his dog enclosed in a crate alone in an off-post house for weeks. The dog, dubbed "Little Pit Girl," ate her way out of the crate but with no food and water, she died. Her body was found later lying in a suitcase that was left in the abandoned house.

Sumter was charged with animal cruelty by the El Paso District Attorney's Office but has never been to trial. He was transferred to Fort Hood.

Update 3/27/09:  In light of the animal cruelty investigation on a Fort Bliss soldier, KFOX asked Fort Bliss officials what was being done about Dwayne Sumter, a soldier accused of leaving his pit bull alone in the garage to die last year.

In Feb. 2008, "Little Pit Girl" was found inside her owner's suitcase dead. Animal Activist Jesse Miller said dry blood was found on her gums because she chewed her way out of this crate.

"The fact that he put her in that crate to begin with and she had to chew her way out of that. We estimated that she had been there for 30 days before she actually died after putting the timeline together," said Miller.

Little Pit Girl was abandoned in the garage of an Northeast El Paso home with no food or water. The owners of the dog were charged with animal cruelty.

Currently there's an open warrant for then-Fort Bliss soldier, Dwayne Sumter and his wife Tnelda Sumter on a charge of cruelty to non-livestock animals. It's been more than a year and the warrants haven't been served. Last week another Ft. Bliss soldier was accused of killing his dog. Now, the community wants answers.

Ft. Bliss Public Affairs Director Jean Offutt released this written statement: "Senior leaders at Fort Bliss are well aware of the situation and do not condone cruelty to animals. There have been two cases within the past year involving Soldiers and animal abuse. One of these Soldiers, Dwayne Sumter, has relocated to another installation and the local District Attorney's Office has issued a warrant for his arrest. The unit commander at his new duty station has also been notified. Any further action on this case cannot be brought to closure by any entity at Fort Bliss."

While looking into Sumter's background, KFOX discovered he was accused of a domestic violence assault on his wife. The district attorney's office confirmed that Sumter is wanted to resolve this assault case as well.

KFOX asked Offutt what Ft. Bliss officials doing to help bring Sumter back to El Paso so he can be served with these open warrants. In an email she wrote, "Sumter departed Fort Bliss and left the animal. The incident happened in El Paso, not on Fort Bliss, we do not have any jurisdiction in the city.

Fort Bliss may be acting within the law, but as far as some members of this community are concerned, it's not enough.  "They have a very high domestic violence issue right now. I think these dogs are getting caught in the line of fire, for lack of better words," said Miller, "The army has to deal with it. They have to prosecute these soldiers. They have to do something to not only punish them but also look at the situation in general."

Update 3/31/09:  Fort Bliss Garrison Commander, Col. Ed Manning, addressed the open warrant against Dwayne Sumter, the soldier who allegedly left his pit bull in his garage to die.

Lil' Pit girl was allegedly left alone in a garage with no food or water for approximately 30 days before she died. Her owners, Dwayne and Tnelda Sumter, have open warrants on animal cruelty charges. Manning was asked what the post is doing to help serve the warrant.

"That is a civilian warrant. You would have to ask the El Paso authorities and the district attorney to see what they would do with that," said Manning.

The animal cruelty incident happened in Feb. 2008, by that time the Sumter's had moved to Fort Hood in Central Texas.

KFOX called Fort Hood officials who said Dwayne Sumter was deployed to Iraq and arrived there last week. He's with the 20th Support Command which deployed out of Maryland. Now, a commander's inquiry is being conducted. That got started last week, even though the incident happened more than a year ago.

"When I became aware that he had a warrant, I made sure that the current chain of command of this soldier knew what's going on," said Manning. "When was that? Last Week?" asked a KFOX reporter. "At some point, that's right," he replied.

Only after KFOX began reporting on the story two weeks ago did Army officials begin to take action.

"The 20th Support Command was just made aware of that incident shortly after the story came out in late March," said Bruce Zielsdorf, the deputy director for public affairs at Fort Hood.

Update 4/9/09:  The Army released a written statement to say the soldier would be sent back from Iraq to answer to the charges.

In a press release from Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, Army officials said they were notified March 27 about the allegations against Sumter who is now a member of the 20th Support Command based in Iraq. At the time of the alleged offense Sgt. Sumter was not a member of the 20th Support Command but instead was a soldier based at Fort Bliss. Soon after he was transferred to Fort Hood, Texas. Sgt. Sumter then deployed with his unit as part of a scheduled deployment to Iraq last month.

The statement said once notified of the alleged incident, Brigadier General Jeffrey J. Snow immediately ordered a Commander's Inquiry to determine the facts of the case and recommend action. The inquiry confirmed that a warrant was issued in October 2008 by the El Paso County Sherriff's Office in order to question Sumter about the Class-A misdemeanor. It was also found that in April 2008, a warrant was issued for Sumter by EPCSO for violating his probation. The statement said the Command had no previous knowledge of these warrants.

Military officials wrote that the 20th Support Command is in the process of returning Sumter from Iraq to meet with the El Paso Sheriff's Office and answer their questions in regard to these two warrants.

The moves come after KFOX reported on a second case of alleged animal cruelty also involving a Fort Bliss soldier. Last month, a Pet Guardian Angel volunteer told KFOX that Fort Bliss Specialist Frank Zimmerman had adopted two dogs from their shelter. One, a mixed-breed dog named Wrigley was returned days later with a broken leg. A second dog, a Golden Retriever named Tinkerbelle, was allegedly killed after Zimmerman stomped on its neck. Fort Bliss officials told KFOX that the case remains open and Zimmerman is currently living in the barracks awaiting word on the investigation.

Reference:

KFOX TV