Accused of throwing two dogs from garage roof and probation violation, Hanania to serve 6 years
An Oak Lawn man accused of tossing two toy poodles from the roof of a five-story hospital parking garage pleaded guilty to aggravated animal cruelty and to violating his probation on an unrelated drug conviction, a Cook County state’s attorney spokeswoman said.
As part of the plea deal, Edward Hanania, 23, received a five-year sentence for the animal cruelty plea and a six-year sentence for the probation violation, state’s attorney spokeswoman Tandra Simonton said. The sentences, which Judge Colleen Hyland handed down Friday in Bridgeview, will run concurrently, she said.
Hanania, who admitted to abusing the dogs as a condition of his plea, will remain under mandatory supervision for two years upon his release from prison, Simonton said.
“I would say that justice was served,” Oak Lawn police Chief Randy Palmer said.
Prosecutors allege Hanania obtained the dogs, which had escaped from their owner’s home, by responding to a Facebook ad for the found dogs, posing as their rightful owner and paying the finder a reward.
He then allegedly drove the dogs to the top of the parking garage at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn and flung them off, prosecutors said.
Hospital surveillance footage of the incident obtained by the Daily Southtown shows a man pull into a spot atop the parking deck, exit his car and peer over the ledge to the ground below. He then walks around to the passenger side, grabs a white object in each hand and dumps the objects off the roof before speeding away in his car.
One of the dogs, 14-month-old Angel, survived the drop with badly broken legs and underwent successful surgery. The other, 4-year-old Guero, died from his injuries en route to the Animal Welfare League in Chicago Ridge, its president Linda Estrada said.
Local animal welfare advocates have followed the case closely, holding a rally in support of the poodles and attending each of Hanania’s court dates en masse.
“I’m so excited,” said Peggy O’Leary, of Oak Lawn, who was reached by phone Friday following Hanania’s guilty plea.
O’Leary had attended Hanania’s prior court appearances but could not make Friday’s hearing due to another obligation. She said she heard about his guilty plea on Facebook.
“I think our presence there played a part in it, I really do,” she said of the presence of animal rights activists at every one of Hanania’s court appearances. “The state’s attorney came out last time and talked to us and said the judge was aware we were here keeping tabs on this guy.”
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