Police: Teen bound, interrogated during dog attack

FOND DU LAC, Wis. (AP) - A Wisconsin homeowner who accused an 18-year-old man of theft tied the teen's ankles together, hung him upside-down from porch rafters and commanded a pit bull to attack him while the teen's father stood and watched, a sheriff's deputy said.

Authorities responded to a home in the Town of Osceola on Friday after a person who arrived at the scene called 911, sheriff's Lt. Cameron McGee told The Reporter newspaper in Fond du Lac.

"During our investigation we learned that the 58-year-old homeowner had accused the 18-year-old of theft and commanded his pit bull to attack the kid as a means of interrogation," McGee told the paper. "After more discussion, the man called the dog to attack the kid a second time while the victim's father watched."

The homeowner then bound the 18-year-old around the ankles, dragged him outside, hung him upside-down from the porch rafters and commanded the dog to attack again, McGee said. He added that the teen's father may have participated in the "interrogation."

The teen was treated for dog bites all over his body, McGee said.

"It's kind of scary that something like this would happen and a parent would stand by and do nothing," McGee said. "It's just shocking."

Deputies recommended that the homeowner be charged with false imprisonment, aggravated battery, bail-jumping and being party to the crime of negligent handling of a dangerous weapon. The father, a 43-year-old from New Berlin, was expected to face similar charges along with failing to aid the victim.

Both are due in court Thursday. The Associated Press left several phone messages for McGee and the district attorney seeking details from court and more information about the case, including what the homeowner accused the teen of stealing.

McGee said the homeowner already was scheduled for a trial later this year on unrelated charges of intentional child abuse.

The pit bull was taken to the Fond du Lac Humane Society. McGee defended the dog's actions, saying it had been trained to attack and was simply obeying its owner's commands.