It seems Katie Brown did not realize that she was barking up the wrong tree on Nov. 27 when she proudly posted a photo of her chocolate labrador with its muzzle duct-taped shut during an improvised "time-out" method to discipline it for making too much noise. She also did not realize that posting the photo on Facebook, where many account owners are animal lovers, would be the beginning of her rough days to come.
Brown, whose real name was later revealed to be Katharine Lemansky, even attempted to appease those who criticized her action by saying that her dog's muzzle had only been taped for a minute to get her point across and that it has since stopped barking after that 1-minute time out.
While man's best friend may have forgiven her for such an action, humans are not as easily swayed, and many people immediately alerted police officers in South Daytona, Florida, where Brown supposedly lived. Officers promptly launched a probe and searched for the offender; however, after a series of searches and posts on the city of South Daytona Facebook page, police found that Lemansky had not lived on Florida for more than a year. Nevertheless, the police went on with the investigation.
Finally, on Nov. 30, South Daytona police tracked Lemansky down in Cary, N.C., and got in touch with the local police.
The city of South Daytona was quick to update everyone on its Facebook page, confirming that Lemansky had been found and charged with a Class 1 misdemeanor charge of cruelty to animals.
Captain Randall Rhyne of the Cary Police Criminal Investigation Division also confirmed that the dog is doing well. "Animal control officers who physically examined both Brown and her littermate found the dogs to be very well cared for, which is why we did not and could not remove them from the owner.... They are clean and well-nourished ... and there were no signs of injury to Brown's muzzle, not even detectable hair loss," he wrote in a statement.
