Two Kentucky men are accused of using a dog shock collar to punish a young child as part of a “lesson,” the Lexington Herald-Leader reports.
Authorities allege that 42-year-old Theodore Sampson put a dog shock collar on a 4-year-old boy, all with the support and encouragement of the boy’s father, 35-year-old Luke Sampson.
Theodore and Luke Sampson are brothers.
Luke Sampson allegedly encouraged Theodore to shock the child “in order to teach the victim a lesson via cruel punishment,” a Madison County Sheriff’s Office arrest citation reads.
Police say the boy was playing with the collar’s remote control device and did not realize it was shocking a dog.
Theodore then began shocking the boy, which court records state caused the child “excessive harm.”
“Anybody with children knows a child that gets their hands on something that appears with an antenna, they’re going to use it like a walkie talkie, cell phone, whatever it may be, not knowing,” Deputy Michael Stotts told WKYT-TV. “The child had no idea that it was for a shock collar and the dog was receiving a shock.”
The two brothers are facing charges of first-degree criminal abuse of a child 12 years of age or younger. Both have been jailed in the Madison County Detention Center and bond has not yet been set.
Prosecutors filed the charges on Thursday.
Luke Sampson lives in Berea, Kentucky, a city of about 16,000 people located 115 miles southeast of Louisville.
[Feature image: Luke and Theodore Sampson/Madison County Sheriff’s Office]
