A 38-year-old Ohio woman, Cassie Thierauf, has recently been sentenced to two years in jail on child endangerment charges after her dogs attacked a 6-year-old girl in August 2022.
The incident occurred in Lebanon, Ohio, where Thierauf was living in a duplex. The young victim and her family resided on the other side of the property.
According to Warren County court documents, Thierauf and another individual were allegedly using drugs in the backyard when the victim’s family came outside. The child’s mother started to record Thierauf, leading to an argument between the two parties.
As the argument escalated, the mother went inside to call the police, leaving the 6-year-old girl, her sister, and a neighbor’s child playing in the front yard. The victim’s father, speaking in court, claimed that Thierauf called her dogs to attack the children, resulting in the 6-year-old being severely bitten on her head and body. The child required multiple emergency surgeries following the attack.
Police provided a video in which Thierauf can be heard telling the girl’s mother that the children should not have provoked her or her dogs.
Despite pleading guilty to child endangerment charges as part of a plea agreement, Thierauf denied the allegations, asserting that she would never use her dogs to harm anyone and that the incident happened because she failed to close her front door.
The presiding judge, unconvinced by Thierauf’s statement, sentenced her to two years in jail with the possibility of two years of probation upon her release. The dogs, considered contraband in the case, will be euthanized.