- April 26, 2024
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A convicted felon in illegal possession of a firearm shot and killed a neighbor’s Labrador retriever puppy when it escaped her home and entered his property, according to a Sheriff's Office charging affidavit.
Deputies received a call about an animal problem at about 10 p.m. May 1.
The dog’s owner, 35-year-old Jeanne Durrance, told a deputy that her Labrador puppy got loose from her home and ran across the street to 46-year-old Kevin James McClenithan’s home at 14890 State Road 100.
She said McClenithan shot the dog on his property, and that she found it in a fenced area next to the house.
McClenithan told a deputy that the dog became aggressive and tried to bite him and the homeowner, 62-year-old Martha Roach. Roach said that the dog was aggressive earlier in the day and that she locked it in the fenced area on the property so she could leave for work.
She said she got home later and waited for McClenithan to remove the pup, but McClenithan told the deputy he tried to get the dog out of the fenced area but couldn’t.
Another statement from McClenithan is redacted in the charging affidavit, as is common with self-incriminating statements.
Neither McClenithan nor Roach was bitten, according to the affidavit, and no one called to report an aggressive dog.
“At no time was law enforcement called about an aggressive dog nor was law enforcement called by Kevin or Martha about the incident,” the deputy wrote in the charging affidavit.
The deputy looked up McClenithan’s criminal history, and found that it included an October, 2012 felony conviction for burglary.
The deputy arrested Mclenithan and charged him with one count of cruelty to animals and one count of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.
Roach surrendered the gun, a 12-guage shotgun, so that it could be placed into evidence. It had five rounds in the gun and another three on the shoulder strap.
The deputy found a spent shotgun shell next to the home’s front door.
McClenithan remained incarcerated as of Monday afternoon on a combined $5,000 bond.
