Animal control warned pitbull owner before vicious attack, police say

By Pashtana Usufzy

Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2015 | 5 p.m.

A woman who was arrested after her four pitbulls attacked two people, leaving a 65-year-old woman seriously injured, was warned by animal control last month after a dog escaped her backyard, police said.

Officers responded about 9:50 a.m. Friday to a report of a dog attack in the 900 block of Looking Glass Lane, near Sloan Lane and Bonanza Road, Metro Police said.

Clark County Fire Department and Clark County Animal Control also responded to the scene, where a woman was found in her front yard "covered in blood and barely moving," police said in an arrest report.

She was transported to University Medical Center with injures to the left side of her forehead, cuts to the left thigh and right eye, multiple deep cuts to both upper arms and a broken left wrist, police said.

The skin was ripped from both of her arms from the elbow to the wrist, and her left arm was at risk of being amputated, police said.

A neighbor who tried to keep the dogs away by throwing gardening tools at the animals and hitting them with a baseball bat was also taken to UMC with a cut on his right hand, police said.

Officers shot one of the pitbulls, a 3-year-old gray and white dog named Jack, after it ran aggressively toward an animal control officer and police, the report said.

An officer fired another shot to put the dog down, police said.

The other dogs were rounded up, police said.

The dogs' owner, 29-year-old Jesse Vonstaden, faces two counts of having dangerous or vicious dogs and two counts of neglect of duty in willful or wanton disregard of a person’s safety, police said. She was also arrested on outstanding traffic warrants, police said.

Animal control officials had been called to Vonstaden's residence in two prior incidents, according to the police report.

Officials responded to the house Nov. 12 regarding a report of dogs fighting, police said. Animal control left a notice and called Vonstaden the next day, advising her she needed a permit to own four dogs and that she also needed proof of rabies vaccines and sterilization of the animals, police said.

She was served with a verbal request for prosecution eight days later, according to the report.

Animal control also gave her a verbal warning Jan. 26 after one of the pitbulls escaped the backyard, police said.

She told officers she was in the process of addressing the concerns of animal control and that she didn't know how the dogs escaped the backyard, saying it was secured Friday, police said. She also told police it was the first time the dogs had tried to attack anyone.