2 arrested in theft of impounded pit bull

By Cass Rains, Staff Writer
 

Police have arrested two people in connection with a burglary of the Animal Con-trol Shelter and theft of an impounded pit bull.

Enid Police Department Lt. Eric Holtzclaw said the burglary occurred sometime between 2 p.m. Monday and 9:51 a.m. Tuesday.

He said the animal control warden entered the shelter Tuesday morning and found a door ajar and a pit bull was missing.

The pit bull, a 3-year-old female named Nikki, had been impounded Aug. 31 as a potentially dangerous dog and was ordered to be euthanized and had been at the shelter since it bit someone in December last year.

Holtzclaw said police went to the pit bull owner’s residence and spoke to a 17-year-old boy about the dog. While speaking with the teen, the dog was seen at the residence. Officers seized the dog and returned it to the shelter.

Police arrested Donald John Krutuleski II, 24, on complaints of second-degree burglary and knowingly concealing stolen property. Holtzclaw said the 17-year-old was arrested on the same charges, which would be filed through the Office of Juvenile Affairs. Krutuleski lives with the 17-year-old at a residence in the 600 block of East Cornell.

Holtzclaw said both confessed to taking the dog from the shelter.

“The pit bulls and aggressive animals have become a problem and we want to caution the public or a person who wants to obtain dogs that are very large or aggressive they need to have the means to take care of them and control them,” Holtz-claw said.

He said there are severe penalties for those who do not take proper care and precaution with potentially dangerous animals.

Holtzclaw said the stolen pit bull was not the same animal involved in the recent attacks on show goats at Chisholm Public Schools.