Monessen couple arrested, charged after neighbor’s surveillance cameras capture alleged animal abuse

MONESSEN — Two people are facing charges for allegedly abusing several dogs in their care. Some of that alleged abuse was caught on surveillance video by neighbors.

“It was shocking that someone could treat an animal like that,” said Monessen Police Chief David Yuhasz. “It was very disturbing.”

In some surveillance video given to police and reviewed by Channel 11 from January, you can see a man, who police identified as Douglas White, walk from his house over to one of his dogs in the yard.

From there, the video appears to show White grab the dog, shake it, then pick it up and put it up against the house before repeatedly shoving his knee into it.

In another video, police said it appears White punts the dog like a football off his porch.

There are more than 50 videos Eli Piasecki sent to police. He said he witnessed a lot of abuse.

“Beating, dragging the dogs, choking them, pounding on them here on the street right here, beating their head off the steps,” Piasecki said.

Piasecki lives across the street. He started noticing this behavior in December, and recently turned the videos over to police.

“Oh, it sickened me, but there was nothing I could do until there was enough evidence to release it,” he said.

Investigators said in one video, White throws a dog down the stairs, and then the dog was not moving and appeared to be lifeless, before the dog got back on its feet.

In many of the videos, you can hear the dogs yelp.

Police searched the home on Friday and found two dead dogs buried in the yard.

“There’s no way they can lie their way out of it,” Piasecki said.

White, and his girlfriend, Mackinzie Orndoff, were both arrested but have since bailed out of jail.

Chief Yuhasz said there’s no excuse for hurting animals like this.

“If you’re to that point in your life where you have to take your aggression out on a dog, you might have to reevaluate your living conditions,” Yuhasz said.

The surviving dogs are now with All But Furgotten animal shelter. You can visit their website to help the shelter care for the dogs.

“Hopefully, there will be justice served to both of them,” Piasecki said.

White and Orndoff are scheduled for a preliminary hearing on July 18. 

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