- Indiana, USA -
Howard County Sheriff deputies have arrested RANDY EUGENE BARRET (pictured below).
According to the Sheriff’s Office media release, on January 28, the Sheriff’s Office was notified of an animal cruelty case involving a dog.
Deputies learned that BARRET had cut one of his dog’s legs in a “botched attempt to amputate it at home.”
On January 30, investigators with the Sheriff’s Office interviewed BARRET and he told them that in March 2020, his dog named Royce (pictured below) had been struck by a vehicle and suffered extensive injuries.
BARRET also told investigators that he took Royce to the veterinarian to receive treatment and that Royce had to stay several days before coming home.
BARRET then explained that over the course of the past several weeks one of Royce’s legs had developed gangrene and began to rot away.
BARRETT claimed that he reached out to several veterinarians for help but that he did not have the money to take Royce in.
The lack of funds prompted BARRET to begin researching how to amputate Royce’s leg himself, and on January 26, he performed the procedure on Royce at home.
BARRET stated he “cleaned the leg with peroxide, shaved it, and rubbed it with alcohol” prior to cutting Royce’s leg off with a “new diamond blade Dremel tool.”
BARRET admitted to not administrating an anesthetic and said that Royce “laid perfectly still and did not bark.”
Two days after the procedure, on January 28, BARRET took Royce to a veterinarian for treatment.
The vet described Royce’s leg as an “infected wound with a jagged cut bone.”
According to the vet, BARRET said that he used a heated piece of steel to cauterize the wound after amputating Royce’s leg.
The vet observed that by doing this, not only was Royce undoubtedly subjected to severe pain and discomfort, but BARRET did not leave enough skin for the vet to be able to close the wound, thus subjecting it to developing sepsis.
On February 9, an arrest warrant was issued out of Howard County Superior IV Court and BARRET was arrested for cruelty to animals, a Level 6 felony.
BARRET was transported to the Howard County Jail where he was further charged with resisting law enforcement.
13WTHR reports that Royce is now in the care of the Kokomo Humane Society.
The nonprofit wrote in a Facebook post that Royce will need surgery to remove his badly injured leg.
Royce's picture shared from Kokomo Humane Society.
Note: The offender’s last name has been spelled BARRETT on the media release and BARRET on the Howard County Jail Inmate Search.
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