NEWS

Dog abuser finally on way to prison

Douglas Walker
dwalker@muncie.gannett.com
  • An ex-Muncie man sentenced to 4 years in prison for animal abuse is finally on his way to prison.
  • Rahsaan Johnson, now 39, was sentenced in March 2013, but remained free pending an appeal.
  • The Indiana Court of Appeals in May 2014 upheld Johnson's 14 dog-fighting related convictions.
  • Authorities seized Johnson's 25 pit bulls from a condemned mobile home during a March 2012 raid.
Rahsaan Johnson

MUNCIE – More than two years after he was sentenced, an ex-Muncie man convicted of 21 crimes stemming from the abuse of his pit bulls is finally on his way to prison.

Rahsaan Ahmad Johnson, now 39, in November 2012 was convicted of 14 felony counts of possessing an animal for use in a fighting contest and seven misdemeanor counts of cruelty to an animal.

Johnson — more recently of Port Charlotte, Fla. — claimed scars and bite wounds found on 17 of his 25 dogs were inflicted only after the pit bulls were seized, during a March 2012 raid, from a condemned mobile home he was renting on Muncie's northeast side.

Delaware Circuit Court 1 Judge Marianne Vorhees in March 2013 sentenced Johnson to four years in prison, but she allowed him to post a $500 cash bond and remain free pending an appeal of his convictions.

The Indiana Court of Appeals in May 2014 upheld Johnson's 14 felony convictions.

"Fortunately for Johnson," one of the appeals court judges wrote, "the Indiana Department of Correction will not subject him to the inhumane conditions that he forced upon those 25 dogs."

Vorhees more recently denied Johnson's request for a sentence modification, based in part on a family's member's health.

The judge wrote in a March 19 order that while she was "very sorry" about his "family situation, the time has come for (Johnson) to serve his executed sentence."

Deputy Prosecutor Joe Orick objected to the proposed modification, noting Johnson had been arrested in New York in February, on charges including reckless endangerment, resisting arrest and driving under the influence of alcohol or drug.

Johnson is "incapable of being a productive member of society," Orick wrote.

Johnson, as ordered by the judge, surrendered at the Justice Center on Monday, briefly appearing in court before being taken to the county jail. He had not yet been transferred to a state prison on Tuesday.

Contact news reporter Douglas Walker at (765) 213-5851. You can also follow him on Twitter @DouglasWalkerSP.