Animal cruelty charge against Wilkes-Barre Controller Snyder dismissed

Jerry Lynott, The Times Leader, Wilkes-Barre, Pa.
Updated ·3 min read
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Sep. 29—WILKES-BARRE — A district justice Thursday dismissed an animal cruelty charge filed against Darren Snyder, the elected Wilkes-Barre City Controller, saying it was a duplicate of another charge he was acquitted of earlier this month in Luzerne County Central Court.

District Justice Rick Cronauer of Wilkes-Barre held a brief hearing prior to announcing his decision. Cronauer said he reviewed the cases and determined the summary citation in front of him was based on the incident from Aug. 1-2 that was the "same incident" in the other criminal complaint.

However, the complaint was for an incident observed and videoed by a Wilkes University employee on Aug. 3 , showing Snyder, 46, stopping while walking his two dogs, yanking a leash and lifting the smaller of animal off the ground. The video also showed Snyder kicking both dogs. The video was taken by Katie Pelchar, who also reported the earlier incident to Wilkes University police.

At the Sept. 13 hearing before District Justice David Barilla in Central Court, Snyder's attorney Nicole Thompson Lermitte, said he was disciplining the dogs. After viewing the video, Barilla found Snyder not guilty of the charge filed by Wilkes-Barre police.

In arguing for dismissal by Cronauer, Lermitte said the case had already been decided by Barilla.

There was no video for Cronauer to view.

Wilkes University police officer James Touey told Cronauer the citation was for a different incident than the one decided at a summary trial in Central Court on Sept. 13. But Touey said he would leave it to Cronauer to decide on the outcome.

The non-traffic citation filed on Aug. 11 stated it was for the incident that occurred at 9:19 p.m. on Aug. 1 in the area of 165 S. Franklin St. on the school's campus and near Snyder's residence.

The citation said Pelchar witnessed Snyder "kick his dog twice in the head." The citation carried a total of $474.25 made up of a fine, costs and fees.

In the complaint Pelchar said Snyder "consistently abuses his two dogs while walking them. She said she was unable to get the Aug 2 incident on video, but was successful with the Aug. 3 that occurred at approximately 11 p.m.

Wilkes-Barre police said they viewed Pelchar's video that showed Snyder "violently pulling on a very small dog's leash multiple times." The final pull "lifted the dog off the ground by his neck." He later kicks the dog multiple times and stomps on its rear to the point where the dog's legs "seemed to give out."

The other larger dog received similar treatment from Snyder, who slapped the animal's rear until it sat down.

Snyder returned to the smaller dog and "began to slap that dog so hard that it can be heard on the video until it also sat down."

Snyder and Lermitte declined to comment after the hearing.

Reach Jerry Lynott at 570-991-6120 or on Twitter @TLJerryLynott.