A Michigan sheriff's deputy accused of torturing, killing, and tossing his adopted dog in a ditch has been arrested

• A Michigan sheriff's corrections deputy was arrested on accusations of torturing and killing the dog he adopted.
• The dog, Habs, had been trained in obedience by inmates and named after a veteran who died by suicide.

A Michigan sheriff's corrections deputy was arrested and charged by authorities last week in connection with torturing and killing an adopted dog last year, officials said.

Michigan Department of Corrections officer Jacob Wilkinson and charged with second-degree torturing or killing of an animal, a felony that carries a seven-year prison sentence, MLive reported.

Wilkinson was arraigned on April 26 before Saginaw County District Judge David D. Hoffman.

Wilkinson adopted the pup, Habs, in September 2021. Habs was trained with inmates at the Saginaw Correctional Facility in the prison's veterans block. Prisoners there spend four to six months helping train canines, according to MLive. Originally named Randy, he has renamed Habs after a veteran who died by suicide.

Habs was found in a ditch in Tittabawassee Township on March 24 with bullet holes in his head and with his legs duct-taped, MLive reported. Investigators believe he may have been killed in September.

After finding Habs' body, investigators used his microchip to trace him back to Wilkinson, who had since moved on from working at MDOC to a new job as a corrections deputy with the Genesee County Sheriff's Office, MLive reported.

Wilkinson admitted to investigators that he killed Habs after the dog nipped at him while he was trimming Habs' nails. He then tied and muzzled Habs with duct tape, shot him, and left him in a ditch, where snow covered Habs' body for months.

While Habs didn't meet the qualifications to become a service dog, he did complete obedience training, Saginaw County Animal Care & Control Director Bonnie Kanicki said, per MLive. Kanicki noted that Wilkinson became familiar with Habs throughout the training process.

Following a necropsy, investigators determined Habs had been shot three times in the head with .22-caliber bullets, Kanicki told the MLive.

"It just shocks the conscience," Kanicki told the outlet. "That dog suffered greatly."

Wilkinson has since been fired from his post as a corrections deputy at the Genesee County Sheriff's Office. According to a Facebook post from the office, he was fired on April 22. He had been hired by the office on January 31.

"We're going to hold our own accountable," Sheriff Christopher Swanson said, adding that Wilkinson never disclosed in his hiring interview or psychological evaluation that he had tortured an animal.

"A service dog – that has been trained by people that are training this dog to help counsel and work through issues – that is completely innocent. That dog nipped at him, and he tortured it, and he killed it, and he left it for dead," Swanson said. "He confessed to everything. He was immediately terminated."