AKRON, Ohio — *Editor's Note: The video in the player above originally aired on March 5, 2019 and is from an unrelated case.
A grand jury indicted 35-year-old Deon Downer on charges of animal cruelty on Monday in Summit County Court.
According to the indictment, on March 8, the owner of a home on Lakeland Avenue in Akron notified police of a dead dog found inside the home. A second dog, barely alive, was also found and taken to Metro Animal Hospital for treatment. According to the home owner, Downer had lived in the home and had moved out just days prior to the discovery.
Downer faces two counts of cruelty to animals and one count of abandoning animals.
Under Goddard's law or House Bill 60, passed in 2016, it's a fifth degree felony to knowingly cause serious physical harm to a companion animal. This includes depriving a pet of food, water or shelter or inflicting long-term pain.
The Bill was named after longtime-Cleveland meteorologist and animal advocate, Dick Goddard.
Downer is scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday, April 28 in Judge Alison McCarty's courtroom.
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The video in the player above originally aired on July 31, 2020.