By SANDRA K. REABUCK
EBENSBURG — A Johnstown man who admitted he failed to get medical help for his badly burned dog was put on probation for two years and ordered to perform 200 hours of community service.
Judge Timothy Creany said at the sentencing Tuesday that he hoped Erik George Licht could do the community service at an agency aiding animals, possibly even the Somerset animal shelter where the dog was taken.
Creany said he was concerned about Licht’s abandoning the dog and not trying to have the animal taken care of.
Licht, 37, of the 1200 block of Franklin Street, was ordered to pay fines and costs totaling $3,862, including $1,886 to cover medical treatment for the dog named Barney.
Defense attorney Robert Davis Gleason said that Licht, who broke into tears as he left the courtroom, is remorseful about the incident.
Licht is on Social Security disability for mental-health problems, including bipolar disorder and anxiety, Gleason said.
“He was befuddled, confused and intoxicated, so he didn’t make a good choice,” Gleason said.
Licht pleaded guilty in December to cruelty to animals in the Christmas Eve 2008 incident. The dog had jumped onto a table that had some food and a burning candle on it, authorities said.
Barney was burned when a bandana around his neck caught fire, and Licht tried to put out the fire by throwing a drink containing alcohol on it.
Licht, saying he did not have money to take the dog to a vet, left Barney outside a convenience store on Franklin Street. He told police that he had hoped a good Samaritan would find the dog and take care of it.
The dog eventually was found and taken to a Somerset County animal shelter, where he received medical treatment.
“The dog is in good hands now. The dog is fully recovered, and the people he is with are capable and love animals,” Tom Moore, a volunteer with the Somerset shelter, said after the hearing.
Moore said he thought Creany’s sentence was fair and that he would be willing to drive Licht to the Somerset shelter for community service so he could learn the proper way to care for animals.
Licht’s father, George, and uncle, Larry, said the younger man has had a troubled life but he loves animals.
“He made a mistake,” Larry Licht said. “He did go back to look for the dog, but couldn’t find it.”
