CHARGES IN DOG DRINKING CASE
Two Brockport college students accused of making Labrador retriever drink beer

Jon Hand

Staff writer http://rochesterdemocrat.ny.newsmemory.com/

Two College at Brockport students have been charged with torturing and in­juring an animal after a photo was posted online of a dog being held upside down above a beer keg and apparently drink­ing from the tap.

Shane Oliver of Bergen and Robert Yates of West Seneca, both 20, were is­sued appearance tickets and will be back in Sweden Town Court at noon on April 2.

Brockport police said Oliver is the person pictured holding the dog, a black Labrador retriever named Mya; Yates is the person who took the photo and posted it.

The event occurred off the Brockport campus.

“Through a joint investigation be­tween the SUNY Brockport Police, the Brockport Police Department and the Sweden dog warden, it was learned that a dog was held upside down, and apparent­ly forced to consume beer from a keg during a party that occurred on Saturday March 8, 2014, at a house located on Mon­roe Avenue in the village of Brockport,” according to the news release.

School officials did confirm they have a student named Robert Yates and plan to have a conversation with him. Police confirmed Oliver is also a student.

Speculation that the people responsi­ble for the photo were Brockport stu­dents began immediately because the person in the photo was wearing a col­lege T-shirt and the photo was posted on a Twitter account called the SUNY Party Stories page. The photo spread quickly online, and by Monday afternoon was be­ing featured on national news websites.

Mya’s owner was not home when the photo was taken, police said. The dog has been taken by the local dog warden and is in good physical condition.

Oliver and Yates were each charged with a misdemeanor under agriculture and marketing law for torturing/injur­ing an animal.

A spokesman for the college said school officials “were alarmed to see the photos and will investigate it and take ap­propriate action.”

Paul Beaumont, Sweden deputy dog warden, plays with Mya outside the pound on Monday. NEETI UPADHYE / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

“But other than that it’s pretty difficult to comment because the student privacy laws really tie our hands in terms of what we can say as it relates to specific student discipline,” said spokesman John Follaco.

Instead, Follaco provided excerpts from the Student Code of Conduct which states “a student who is off campus and charged with a civil or criminal offense where there is a nexus to the College may be subject to College disciplinary action. The student conduct coordinator shall use discretion on whether the Code of Student Conduct shall be applied to conduct occurring off campus.”

Follaco said school officials would meet with students to learn more.

JHAND Twitter.com/jonhand1