A judge agreed Monday to postpone the pretrial conference for a Center Township man who is accused of animal cruelty related to an illegal dog breeding operation in Jasper County.
Jasper Superior Court Judge Russell Dean Bailey agreed Monday to a request by Attorney Brian Woodward to extend the date, after he asked the court for more time to gather and go through the large amount of discovery related to the case.
His client Stevce Rajcinoski of Center Township in Lake County is facing 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.
Lake County Sheriff Animal Control director of operations Shanda Hanft pets french bulldog Sandy, one of 39 dogs rescued from a Crown Point puppy mill in May 2023. The former owner of the dogs is facing charges of animal cruelty in Jasper County (Kyle Telechan/Post-Tribune)
The charges stem from a May 23 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 2023 raid triggered the revocation of Rajcinoski’s parole for his conviction in a similar 2017 case at his Center Township home.
Tito, a French bulldog who was one of 39 dogs rescued from a Crown point puppy mill in May of this year, lays on the floor in the lobby of the Lake County Sheriff’s Animal Adoption Center on Sept. 29, 2023. (Kyle Telechan/Post-Tribune)
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.
