New Animal Cruelty Charges For Man in '93 Dog Killing
(WBBM/STMW) - Felony animal cruelty charges face an Aurora man, who was once jailed for running over and killing his dog.
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A Kane County grand jury Tuesday indicted 41-year-old Phillip Rinn on charges of cruel treatment and aggravated cruelty involving another dog, both felonies punishable by 2 to 5 years in prison, if convicted.
Initially, he was charged with misdemeanor cruelty, but that charge was dropped Wednesday during a bond hearing.
Rinn is accused of beating a one-year-old Labrador Retriever-German Shepherd mix, named Magda, so harshly that it sustained several broken teeth.
The dog was treated at an Aurora animal shelter.
Rinn's first scrape with the law over treatment of animals occurred in 1993, when he admitted chaining his dog Royal to his car and dragging it down the road with the intent to kill it. When that didn't kill the dog, he ran it over with his car.
He told police it had chewed the car's vinyl roof and tried to bite his wife and later claimed to a judge that the dog was rabid.
The judge trying the 1993 case refused to believe Rinn and sentenced him to 30 days in jail and two years of probation, fined him $500 and required him to perform 100 hours of community service. Rinn promised at the time that he would never mistreat an animal again.
Rinn remains free on $100 bond. He returns to court on Dec. 29.
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