A Center Township man will pay more than $31,000 to Lake County Animal Control as restitution for on one count of Class A Misdemeanor cruelty to an animal.
Stevce Rajcinoski will also spend just less than a year on probation, according to the plea deal Jasper Superior Court Judge Russell Bailey accepted Wednesday. The plea was presented at a September 9 hearing.
Jasper County Chief Deputy Prosecutor Joe Morrison said that though Rajcinoski had “an emotional charge” against him, the offenses would’ve typically been misdemeanors if he hadn’t had prior convictions. As well, his presentencing report showed that he “scored low” on some of the determining factors judges use in sentencing.
Additionally, the defense raised the issue that Rajcinoski was “overcharged” when he was charged with 43 counts, Morrison said.
“Even though (the plea) calls for probation, $31,217.37 is a significant sentence,” he said, adding that Rajcinoski told them he “thought he was going to get away with it.”
Rajcinoski’s attorney, Brian Woodward, called his client “hard-working” and commended him for agreeing to the plea and “not looking for a loophole.”
“If you look at his monthly income, with a stay-at-home parent, they’re never going to get ahead,” Woodward said. “That’s not to say there aren’t better ways to do it.”
Bailey said that if it weren’t for the restitution, he wouldn’t have accepted the plea.
“The problem I have here is, it’s the same action as he’s done in another county,” Bailey said.
Rajcinoski is to pay $1 plus court costs, then $250 per month, which includes drug and alcohol fees, Bailey said.
Rajcinoski faced 41 counts of animal cruelty, all Level 6 felonies, and one count each of practicing veterinary medicine without a license and failing to register as a commercial breeder, both misdemeanors. The charges came from a May 23, 2023 raid of his Center Township home and a pole barn on a property he owns in Rensselaer in Jasper County.
During the raid, detectives discovered one mountain dog, seven American bullies, 29 French bulldogs, three dead puppies, and one decomposed canine in a retention pond, according to court documents.
The May raid triggered the revocation of Rajcinoski’s parole for his conviction in a similar 2017 case at his Center Township home.
In 2017, Rajcinoski was charged with 11 counts of felony animal mutilation and 72 counts of animal neglect following a raid on his Center Township home where dozens of dogs were confiscated, according to court documents, which also revealed he had performed C-section surgery on some of the dogs.
Rajcinoski ultimately pleaded guilty to three of the charges and the rest were dismissed. He was sentenced to one year in jail on each count to be served consecutively which amounted to 1,094 days suspended and one day of time served before being placed on parole.
He was held in Lake County Jail following his arrest in Jasper County while the process to revoke his probation unfolded. Rajcinoski was released from the Lake County Jail in November after serving out his sentence, according to the Lake County Prosecutor’s Office.
Meredith Colias-Pete and Carrie Napoleon contributed.
