Owner of dogs in Columbus mauling taken into ICE custody; criminal case against him stalls

• The owner of the pit bulls that mauled an 8-year-old Columbus boy in March was born in El Salvador and has been taken into custody by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
• The man faces multiple misdemeanor charges related to the attack on the boy and a prior biting incident. After being detained by ICE, the owner missed a court hearing, stalling the criminal case.
• The owner’s immigration hearing is scheduled for July 14.

A dog owner facing criminal charges in an attack that seriously injured an 8-year-old Columbus boy has been detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Two dogs attacked and critically injured 8-year-old Oscar Koon, of North Linden, on March 2 while he was playing in his yard on the 3000 block of Hiawatha Street, police said. He suffered serious injuries to his face and arm in the attack and was rushed to Nationwide Children’s Hospital in critical condition, but survived the attack.

Pete Shipley, spokesman for the Columbus City Attorney, confirmed the dogs’ owner, who lived nearby on Carolyn Avenue and was facing numerous misdemeanor charges in the attack, was later taken into ICE custody.

A copy of the owner’s ID card obtained via a Dispatch public records request indicated he was born in El Salvador.

With the dogs’ owner in ICE custody, the criminal case against him in Columbus stalled.

On May 20, a judge issued a warrant for his arrest after he did not appear for a pre-trial hearing. The case is currently closed since the man can’t appear in court, according to court records.

If the man is removed from the U.S., the criminal case against him could be delayed indefinitely. Elsewhere in the country, ICE has produced some detainees for criminal court cases, but many others have missed court dates or been deported before they could stand trial.

Shipley said the man will appear in immigration court on July 14 and directed further questions to ICE. That agency hasn’t replied to a request from The Dispatch for information on this case or other matters.

The man was facing ten misdemeanor charges in the attack:

• Failure to keep a dangerous dog confined or restrained
• Failure to confine a dangerous dog
• Failure to register a dangerous dog and display the registration tag on the collar
• Two counts of failure to vaccinate for rabies
• Two counts of failure to confine a dog
• Three counts of failure to register a dog

The man pleaded not guilty to the charges and was out of jail on bond when he was detained by ICE. It’s not clear exactly when he was taken into custody. The man doesn’t appear in ICE’s Online Detainee Locator System or in the rosters of Ohio jails known to house detainees.

The dangerous dog charges involved an incident that occurred prior to the attack that injured Oscar.The man owned a third dog, a white pit bull named Luna, who was designated a dangerous dog as a result of a June 2024 biting incident.

Three pit bulls jumped a fence at the suspect’s house and attacked a man walking two dogs, according to public records obtained from Franklin County Animal Care and Control.

The man walking the dogs told animal control the pit bulls attacked his dogs, and Luna bit him on the hand when he broke up the fight.

Luna was designated a dangerous dog, but the city attorney’s office dropped two misdemeanor charges against the owner.

The owner had been charged with failure to confine a dog and failure to register a dog, but the man who was bitten was the only witness to the incident, and that man lived out of state and could not show up to testify in court, Shipley said.

Public Safety and Breaking News Reporter Bailey Gallion can be reached at bagallion@dispatch.com.

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