HAWTHORNE, Fla. – The owner of two pit bulls that killed 74-year-old Roy McSweeney in Putnam County last summer pleaded guilty Wednesday to four misdemeanor charges related to the dog attack.
Deanna Blitch pleaded guilty to two counts of attack by a dangerous dog, along with charges of resisting an officer without violence and giving false information.
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Blitch will be placed on two years probation, serve a 90-day jail sentence over 45 weekends and pay McSweeney's funeral and burial costs. She must also write letters of apology to three law enforcement officers.
Charges are still pending against Blitch's son, Braxton.
The dogs attacked McSweeney while he was gardening in his own yard, ripping his right arm off and partially severing his left arm. He died after five days on life support at Shands Medical Center in Gainesville.
Putnam County sheriff's deputies said two pit bulls got out of Blitch's yard in the 200 block of Old Hawthorne Road.
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According to police reports from the Putnam County Sheriff's Office, the same dogs were involved in two previous attacks, one in January 2010, the other just last month that left a visitor to Blitch's home with 40 stitches.
In both cases, the dogs were quarantined but were eventually given back to their owner. Charges were never filed, and the dogs were never declared dangerous.
Neighbors said there have been other incidents, too, that were not reported to police.
Blitch's two pit pulls were euthanized after the attack on McSweeney. The judge allowed her to keep two other small dogs that are not pit bulls, but can never own any other dogs.