Get notified by email when this case is updated.
Written by B. Collins
Published November 4, 2022, @ 1:00 PM ET
Warning: The following report describes violence against animals that may be offensive to some readers.
Newton County (October 6, 2022) – A Covington man, Justin Beck, has been charged with cruelty to animals and willful obstruction of a law enforcement officer when officers arrived to enforce an eviction notice and found a dog chained to a tree without food, water, or shelter and another dog dead hanging from the fence.
When officers arrived with the eviction notice and asked Beck to leave the premises, he refused, resulting in Beck being arrested for obstruction.
While walking the premises, officers observed a German Malinois tethered and wrapped around a tree, without shelter, food, or water.
The officer also spotted a tether hanging over a 4-foot fence and a gray pit-bull whose face was pinned to the fence as it were trying to breathe. When the officer went to rescue the dog, someone called out that the dog was deceased as of yesterday, which Beck knew, and left it hanging on the rope. Due to the circumstances, animal control ceased two additional dogs from the premises.
Beck was cited for animal control ordinances due to the condition of the animals. He was arrested and charged with an additional count of cruelty to animals along with obstruction. Beck was transported to the Newton County Detention Center for booking. This case is currently pending in court.
Officer’s Narrative:
[Please note: The following is a direct transcription from the official initial incident report. The Georgia Gazette does not fix any spelling or grammatical errors that may exist. Any changes or redactions made by our staff are placed inside brackets. Some errors may exist. All subjects are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. The topics discussed may be sensitive to some readers. Discretion is advised.]
10/06/2022 at approximately 08:50 hours. On this date, I Deputy Tran was dispatched [100 BLOCK] Somerset Dr to be a back unit for Deputy S. Johnson due to a black male who was getting evicted from this resident not complying to the Newton County Judges Eviction Order and hindering Deputy Johnson from his official duties.
When I arrived, Deputy Johnson advised that Sgt. Howard advised him for us to be on standby for Sgt. Howard to come speak to the male. Sgt. Howard then arrives later as well as Cpl. Morrison and instructed the male to leave the premises and the male refused thus causing Cpl. Morrison to arrest the male for Obstruction.
After Deputy Johnson, Sgt. Howard, Cpl. Morrison, Deputy Gibson, and I walked the residence for the eviction process we discovered a deceased gray in color pitbull teathered by a rope to a tree hanging from the fence with the rope around its neck. Animal control was requested by myself to be enroute to cease two other dogs that were on location due to the circumstances.
The arrested male was cited for Animal Control Ordinances as well as a secondary charge of Cruelty to Animal was added.
*I do not know who transported the arrestee nor do not who the arrestee was released to at this time.
[End of Narrative]