Senior citizen changes plea on animal cruelty charge

KELOWNA – A local man has pleaded guilty to one of three animal cruelty charges against him and will be sentenced at a later date.

In September 2014 Roland Maxson, a senior citizen from Kelowna, voluntarily surrendered his eight-year-old cocker spaniel to the Kelowna SPCA. Animal cruelty investigator Kathy Woodward said at the time the dog came to them with severe ear and skin infections and problems with its eyes and teeth.

A veterinarian decided the dog had to be put down and Maxson was charged with causing pain and suffering to an animal, failing to provide necessities for an animal and causing an animal to continue to be in distress.

The trial was originally intended to start today, Feb. 2 but at the last minute Maxson’s lawyer Michael J. Stephenson entered a guilty plea to one of the three charges. Maxson pleaded guilty to causing an animal to continue to be in distress and Stephenson says he expects the first two counts will be stayed during sentencing.

He wouldn’t elaborate on why the plea was changed.

The case will go before a judge this Friday to fix a date for sentencing.

To contact the reporter for this story, email Adam Proskiw at aproskiw@infonews.ca or call 250-718-0428. To contact the editor, email mjones@infonews.ca or call 250-718-2724.