Arrest made in Vidalia dog attack
Published 11:42 pm Tuesday, September 11, 2018
VIDALIA — Vidalia Police officers have arrested a Vidalia man they say owned dogs that attacked and severely injured a Vidalia woman on Friday.
Leslie James Jones, 53, of Vidalia faces charges of negligent injuring and allowing dogs to run at large, police said.
Melinda Nations was attacked by an unknown number of dogs Friday while on her own property. Nations is a neighbor of Jones, who police said owns five of the dogs that had been on Nations’ property at the time she was attacked.
Despite her injuries, police said Nations was able to tell officers about the dog attack.
Nations was transported to Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center in Baton Rogue where she has undergone several surgeries and was in ICU in serious condition Tuesday afternoon, police said.
Division B. Judge John Reeves signed the warrants for Jones’ arrest with a stipulation that Jones be held without bond until he appears before a judge, police said, and Jones is being held at the Concordia Parish Jail. The district attorney’s office, police said, is petitioning the courts for the dogs to be adjudicated and classified. If the dogs are classified as vicious dogs they will be humanely euthanized, a statement from the Vidalia Police Department states.