Area man charged after beating dog
PIT GAS – A Pit Gas man is being held at the Greene County Jail in lieu of $10,000 cash bond on charges of intimidation of witnesses and cruelty to animals. According to the affidavit of probable cause filed with the charges before Magisterial District Judge Lee Watson in Carmichaels, Arthur Ranson Overby, 63, of 139 First St., Clarksville, allegedly beat his mother’s dog Friday evening, then left a threatening message on the answering machine of a woman who had witnessed the beating.
The Pennsylvania State Police responded to the incident, where Aileen Overby told them that she had returned home after taking her dog to the veterinarian for shots and when her son went to get the dog out of the car, it bit his hand. Aileen Overby told police that her son, Arthur, then went into the house and got a wooden stick, which he used to beat the dog. She told police that her son then picked the dog up and threw it over a steep embankment.
Police found the beagle over the hillside laying on its side and panting heavily. The dog was taken for medical treatment, with the veterinarian stating that the dog’s nasal passage was crushed. There was additional bruising and bleeding and the dog had a small cut above its right eye.
Brandet Walls, a home nurse for Aileen Overby, told police she witnessed the attack on the dog. She told police Saturday that she had received a message on her answering machine from Arthur Overby stating “If I find out it was you that reported me, you better not come around my house anymore.”
According to the affidavit, Walls told police that she was “scared to death of Arthur.”
Arthur Overby was arraigned before Watson Saturday. A preliminary hearing has been set for Tuesday at 11:45 a.m.