SALISBURY, Md. - A Salisbury man has been sentenced after pleading guilty to felony animal cruelty in connection with the beating death of a small dog.
The Wicomico County Sheriff's Office on Friday that that on Aug. 30, Nathaniel Ennels II, 29, appeared in Wicomico County Circuit Court where he was sentenced to three years in jail with all but time served suspended. Ennels served 58 days behind bars and 268 days of house arrest totaling 326 days’ time served. Ennels was placed on three years of supervised probation.
Judge Matthew A. Maciarello also signed an order that Ennels be prevented from owning, possessing, or residing with animals for a period of 10 years, a first in the state of Maryland.
On Oct. 9, 2021, the Wicomico County Sheriff’s Office responded to a complaint that Ennels had killed his girlfriend’s dog. During the course of the investigation, deputies located a video recording of Ennels punching and kicking a 4-year-old miniature schnauzer named Spanky. The dog was found dead later that day.
An animal control officer responded and took possession of Spanky and returned her body to the Wicomico County Humane Society. A necropsy determined Spanky's cause of death to be internal hemorrhaging of the liver and kidneys caused by blunt force trauma.
