Jurors indicted an Atlantic City man accused of twice abandoning four dogs by heaving them over a local animal shelter’s fence, authorities said Tuesday.
A multiple-count indictment against 23-year-old Jalil McNeal includes charges of animal cruelty, witness tampering and theft of services for dumping the dogs at the Humane Society of Atlantic County on the White Horse Pike leaving Atlantic City.
He was allegedly caught on video twice. McNeal was charged after one of the dumping videos was shared by the humane society on its social media, helping investigators identify him as their suspect.
Permanent scars on the last dog he allegedly hurled over the fence led to another count in the indictment of failure to provide the requisite veterinary care, the Atlantic County Prosecutor’s Office said Tuesday. The animal was burned, either by chemicals or high temperatures, before being thrown into the humane society’s yard, prosecutors said.
A message left for Alex Settle, McNeal’s assigned attorney from the public defender’s office, was not immediately returned.
Two officers arrested McNeal during a traffic stop earlier this year, finishing a month-long search for their suspect in the dog-dumping case that was first brought to light in a video published online in July. The humane society, in releasing the clip, lamented the cruelty while imploring the public to help police.
In the clip, McNeal allegedly is seen walking a pit bull-mix to the fence before throwing it over, causing the animal to land hard and roll on its side before standing up. That instance was a repeat from early April, where McNeal allegedly tossed three dogs onto the shelter’s property and deserting them, prosecutors said.
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Eric Conklin may be reached at econklin@njadvancemedia.com.
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