A rural Carlton County man was charged with illegal possession of firearms and animal cruelty after allegedly shooting his neighbor’s dog with a .22 caliber rifle.
Loel Jason Seboe, 56, was arrested Monday, June 22, by the Fond du Lac Police Department after they responded to a complaint of shots fired near Seboe’s home on the Fond du Lac Reservation west of Carlton.
When officers arrived on the scene, the victim said they heard Seboe firing .22 rounds and showed them their dog had been shot in the right rear leg by what appeared to be a small caliber bullet coming from the defendant’s residence, the criminal complaint said.
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Officers spoke to Seboe, who admitted to shooting the dog and offered several excuses why he did it. Seboe first claimed he shot the dog with a BB gun but later admitted he owned a .22 Ruger rifle and told them it was on his bed in his home.
The officers obtained a warrant to search Seboe’s home and located the rifle under the sheets on Seboe’s bed. They found several other firearms in the residence, as well as a number of boxes of ammunition.
In addition, the search turned up a spent .22 shell casing in Seboe’s home near the front door and nine other casings outside the front door — an amount consistent with the number of shots the victim described earlier in the day when the dog was wounded.
Seboe is prohibited from possessing any firearms because of previous domestic assault and order for protection violations in 2018.
Seboe faces two charges of illegal possession of firearms that both carry a maximum sentence of 12 months in jail and a $3,000 fine. He also faces a third charge of mistreatment or torture of animals which carries a maximum sentence of 90 days in jail and a $1,000 fine.
Seboe received a pre-trial release Thursday, June 25.
A call to the Fond du Lac Police Department about the condition of the dog was not immediately returned.
