Pesch, age 57, of West Bend appeared in court to face six charges, including two felonies.  Pesch faces the possibility of 10 years in prison after being charged with killing two dogs and sickening a third by poisoning them with antifreeze.

According to a criminal complaint, all three dogs had lived at an apartment complex on Roosevelt Drive that had a dog run on the property, and Pesch had complained about their loud barking.

Three dog owners contacted authorities after the deaths of two of the dogs.

Buck, a 6-month-old beagle, died Jan. 7 after becoming ill the day before. Buck had trouble breathing and was acting strangely and running into walls.

Roxy, a 10-year-old red husky, was euthanized Jan. 8 after her owner found her catatonic. The dog was taken to West Bend Animal Hospital and a veterinarian said nothing could be done to save her.

That same day, the owner of a 1-year-old springer spaniel named Buster heard about the deaths. Buster had been sick two days before and seemingly had recovered, but the owner took him in for a checkup to be sure.

All three dogs had access to the dog run on Jan. 6.

Pesch allegedly told investigators that he put a bucket of antifreeze into the run on Jan. 5 or 6 "to send a message to the owners," the complaint says. He said he had called police to complain about excessive barking but nothing seemed to be getting done about it, according to the complaint.

"The defendant was not getting any sleep while the dogs were barking, and . . . the defendant figured that the owners would get the message once they located the antifreeze," the complaint says.

Pesch told investigators he thought the antifreeze would just make the dogs sick, the complaint says.

Two other people contradicted Pesch, according to the complaint, with one of them telling investigators that Pesch admitted that he knew the antifreeze could kill dogs.

Another person told investigators in August, 2001 that Pesch said he planned to feed gravy-soaked sponges to the dogs, believing that the dogs would be harmed or killed, the complaint says.

Pesch is free on bond.  A preliminary hearing is set for April 3rd in Washington County Circuit Court.

Update 11/12/02:  Pesch will spend five months in the Washington County Jail for killing two dogs and sickening another dog with antifreeze in January.

Pesch was sentenced for three misdemeanor counts of exposing the dogs to poison and two felony counts of mistreating animals. He was convicted in September.

During sentencing, Assistant District Attorney Holly Bunch urged the judge to sentence Pesch to 10 months in jail.

"What unit of punishment is appropriate for a man who premeditated the murders of people's pets?" she said. "There was a tremendous loss suffered by the human victims in this case."

During the trial, the owners of the pets testified about watching their pets die. Roxy went into convulsions and had to be put down by a veterinarian because she was nearly comatose. Buck was so sick that he didn't respond to his owner and labored to breathe for several hours before dying.

"The sheer cruelty in the manner by which these animals died and the fact he planned this for quite some time goes to the seriousness, the heinousness of this offense," she said.

Bunch said Pesch decided he was the final arbiter in determining what was the best way to deal with the dogs.

"He had absolutely no right to take the law into his own hands and murder members of these people's families," she said.

David Nelson, Pesch's attorney, said his client had spent months unable to sleep as the dogs barked and barked. He said his client had called the police seven different times to have the owners warned about the noise.

Nelson said his client was not a monster.  "He is not a maniacal killer; he's not a pet-hater," he said, adding that his client didn't have a history of animal torture. "He wasn't tearing the wings off flies, setting ants on fire with his magnifying glass.

"After seven calls to the authorities, calls to his alderman, he snapped and handled the problem improperly," he said.

Pesch spoke briefly.  "I am very sorry. I made a big mistake," he said. "I was going nuts and wasn't thinking clearly. I am very sorry."

Circuit Court Judge Andrew Gonring said whatever sentence he issued would be criticized because some would think it too harsh and others too light.  He said he believed that Pesch acted intentionally and that the dogs died horrible deaths.

"I have no doubt that these animals suffered and suffered greatly," he said. "I am aware of the special kind of a relationship between owners and their pets, and I can understand why animal owners would see this as the most grave of cases."  Gonring said the fact that Pesch had been a pet owner made the poisoning even more disturbing.

"You had a cocker spaniel that you thought of as your best friend, and that frankly makes this senseless act all the more difficult to understand," he said.  Gonring then ordered Pesch to jail for five months and placed him on four years' probation. Gonring ordered him to complete 120 hours of community service and urged he do so at a pet shelter. Pesch will begin his sentence Nov. 30.

Reference:

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel