72-year-old Chester Springs man will be prosecuted
By Kathleen Brady Shea, Managing Editor, The Times
Gabriel Pilotti faces criminal charges after allegedly killing his neighbors’ two dogs.
A 72-year-old Chester Springs man faces criminal prosecution for fatally shooting his neighbor’s two Bernese Mountain dogs, the District Attorney said Friday.
District Attorney Tom Hogan said Gabriel Pilotti has been charged with cruelty to animals and recklessly endangering another person. “There was no justification for the killing of these two dogs,” Hogan said. “Our sympathies go out to the family and children who lost their beloved pets.”
According to the criminal complaint, police responded on Feb. 12 to Pilotti’s property in West Vincent Township because two dogs had reportedly been shot. During an interview, Pilotti told police the dogs were pursuing his sheep in a penned area of his property. Police later determined that the dogs were not threatening the sheep and the second dog was shot as it was fleeing from the property.
Hogan said a neighbor’s house was “in the line of fired directly behind where one of the dogs was shot.” He said West Vincent Township Police did “an excellent job in relentlessly pursuing this case until they revealed the truth.”
