(WWJ) — Genesee County Sheriff Chris Swanson on Tuesday announced charges in multiple assaults at the county jail, including a man accused of attacking corrections officers on two separate occasions and another man accused of attacking a therapy dog.
The 13-month-old Cavalier King Charles Spaniel named Josie returned to work on Monday, nearly a week after the attack.
Security cameras inside the jail caught 27-year-old Romello Maxwell, who was lying on the ground at the time, reach back and smack the dog in the face.
Maxwell has been charged with one felony count of torturing or killing an animal. Genesee County Prosecutor David Leyton said he charged Maxwell "as harshly as possible under Michigan law."
Leyton said Maxwell — who has a history of assaulting people — is being charged as a habitual offender, elevating the maximum penalty from four years to eight years.
Swanson said Josie suffered a concussion and scraped the inside of her eye but has been on the mend since receiving care at the vet.
"We're going to hold people accountable. If they're going to do that to these animals, they're going to do it to people," Swanson said as he held Josie during a Tuesday press conference.
Swanson said he got Josie for the sheriff’s department to serve as a comfort dog after speaking with Oakland County Prosecutor Mike Bouchard, who uses the same breed in a number of ways across the county.
In a separate case Swanson detailed on Tuesday, he said 26-year-old Demario Crenshaw is being charged with attacking a deputy last month. That attack was caught on camera, less than a year after he “charged at a deputy” and punched him twice during a cell search.
In the more recent case, Swanson said after a deputy found contraband in Crenshaw’s cell, he charged at him, hit him twice and tried to get ahold of his taser.
While Swanson and Leyton didn’t specify exact charges, they said he is being “charged with harsh crimes.”