The information and images contained in this article may be delayed due to the FOIA and public records guidelines which allow departments and government agencies to take up-to multiple months to fulfill requests such as providing booking photos or documents. The inculded reports have been redacted by both BPD as well as Live Boston Staff for reasons of investigatory purpose as well as officer safety.
At about 1:26 PM on Wednesday March 16, 2022, officers and detectives assigned to the BPD Youth Violence Strike Force arrested Justin Williams, 32, of Dorchester, without incident at his residence pursuant to an arrest warrant issued out of Dorchester District Court on charges of Cruelty to Animals.
This arrest came as a result of a coordinated investigation involving the MSPCA and Boston Animal Care and Control which was initiated at about 2:24 PM on Monday March 14, 2022. Investigators had responded to the suspect’s residence after receiving a disturbing video documenting the suspect choking a small dog, believed to be a chihuahua, while yelling profanities.
A second video later showed the suspect throwing the dog into a clothes dryer and setting it on the highest possible temperature before turning it on.
Officers acted immediately, allowing Animal Control to take custody of the dog a short time later for treatment and evaluation. Detectives then continued their investigation, leading to the application and issuance of a warrant for the arrest of the suspect involved which was then executed as noted above. This investigation remains active and ongoing at this time. The suspect has since been arraigned in Dorchester District Court.