JEFFERSON COUNTY WARRANT ARREST AFFIDAVIT

CR# GN22003876
NAME OF SUSPECT: VICTOR SHANE BENTLEY White Male 6'00 190 lbs.
DATE OF BIRTH: 02/27/1993
AGENCY: GOLDEN POLICE DEPARTMENT DATE: 10/06/2022
DATE FILED: October 20, 2022 11:18 AM
COURT: JEFFERSON COUNTY COURT, 100 JEFFERSON COUNTY PKWY, GOLDEN, JEFFERSON CO 80419
(JCSO)
CHARGES/STATUTE #/CLASS:

(1) OWNERSHIP OF DANGEROUS DOG-DEATH 18-9-204.5(3)(a),(d) Class 5 felony -10/05/2022

(2) OWNERSHIP OF DANGEROUS DOG-SBI 18-9-204.5(3)(a),(c) Class 1 misdemeanor; Offense notice occ. -
10/05/2022

Detective STEVENSON BEING DULY SWORN UPON OATH SAYS:

That the foregoing offense(s) alleged was committed of this Affiant's own personal knowledge, and the facts
stated therein are true.

Your Affiant is a Police Detective for the GOLDEN Police Department assigned to the GPO INVESTIGATIONS
Bureau . Detective STEVENSON 's case responsibilities include the follow-up investigation of reported violations of the
Colorado Revised Statutes. Your Affiant has personal knowledge of the facts contained within this affidavit through
personal involvement, interviews with witnesses and other police officers, and through reviewing official police reports.

Victim: MARY ELIZABETH GEHRING 12/23/1933 White Female

On 9-14-22, Officers responded to 15712 W 1st . Drive, City of Golden , County of Jefferson , State of Colorado,
for a report of a dog bite.

While enroute to the call , dispatch notified officers that a juvenile, Ty Beacham DOB: 1-9-10, had been bitten
by a dog, and his grandmother, Mary Gehring , DOB: 12-23-33, was being attacked by the dog. Dispatch
further advised responding officers that there were two dogs at the location- Knoxville and Diablo. The
reporting party stated that Knoxville was the only dog attacking and that Mary was still being attacked in the
backyard of the residence .

Knoxville is a seven-year-old pit bull , brown with a white mark on his face. Owned by Victor Bentley, DOB: 2-
27-93.

Diablo is a seven-year-old pit bull , brown with a white mark around his collar. Owned by Kayla Mooney, DOB:
8-28-89.

Patrol officers Gurule and Novak arrived on scene and entered the home to gain access to the backyard.
Upon entering the home, officers could observe blood splatter covering the floor, leading to the backyard. As
the officers entered the kitchen , they could see into the backyard . Officer Novak observed that Mary's face

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was mauled and bloody, could see the skull where skin and hair had been removed , and observed that her left
arm was severely injured. Mary was wearing a black shirt and pants when she was laying in the yard .

Both officers entered the backyard and could see both Diablo and Knoxville standing by Mary. Diablo
immediately charged both officers and lunged at Officer Novak. Officer Novak struck Diablo with a less lethal
round from a shotgun. Knoxville then charged at Officer Novak and was hit with a less lethal round . Both
dogs run away and repeatedly run around the yard .

Officer Novak and Gurule attempt to retrieve Mary to pull her to safety, but both dogs began to circle the
officers. They had to deploy several less-lethal rounds to keep dogs away from them and were unable to get
Mary to safety.

Officers Sayed, Weathers , Baker, and Grusing arrived on scene. Officers were able to circle Mary to pull her
back into the house. Officer Weathers , who rode with paramedics to the hospital , observed that Mary's left
eye appeared to be completely missing and the left side of her face (cheek and forehead area) had been torn
off the bone and was hanging off to the left of her skull. Mary's right eye had been moved closer to the center
line of her face . Her skull bone was exposed , and she appeared to have been partially scalped by the dogs.
Officer Weathers attempted to grab Mary's left arm but realized that her hand had been chewed off, bone
completely exposed , from her elbow halfway up her forearm where it ended in a shard .

Both dogs were eventually tranquilized and taken into custody . While waiting for the medication to take effect,
Officer Fink observed Knoxville vomit in the grass. Diablo was euthanized that night due to injuries sustained
during the rescue of Mary. Knoxville was euthanized several days later after Victor voluntarily relinquished
ownership to Foothills animal shelter.

Mary and Ty are both transported to St. Anthony's Medical Center. Mary is taken immediately into surgery and
Ty is airlifted to Children 's Hospital.

I responded to the hospital and met the victim(s) family and was introduced to the following :

• Robert (Robbie) Mooney Jr, DOB: 12-8-65, son and medical/financial POA for Mary, Grandfather to Ty
and Isabella
• Isabella Beacham , DOB: 8-3-13, sister to Ty
• Victor Bentley, DOB: 2-27-93, Kayla 's boyfriend
• Kayla Mooney, DOB: 8-28-89, mother of Ty and Isabella, Granddaughter of Mary
It should be noted that I am familiar with Robbie and Kayla , as Robbie owns Denver West Towing and Kayla
works for him . Denver West Towing is the contracted tow company for the Golden Police Department.

Robbie told me that both dogs were male, and he had never seen aggression from either dog. Robbie
believed that Diablo would never hurt the children and repeated this sentiment several times throughout the
interview. Robbie told me that Kayla has owned Diablo since he was a puppy, for approximately 7 years .

Kayla entered the room and immediately uttered "he's always been so gentle with the kids; I don't know what
happened". She said that both dogs had been living at the house together for a couple of weeks . Kayla said
that Knoxville had been doing "really well" with the kids and would lay with Ty for hours and she had been
watching very carefully . Kayla said that Knoxville was very loveable, and she didn't know where this came
from . Kayla told me that Diablo was up to date on his shots. Kayla told me that she and the family have owned
Diablo since he was a puppy, for approximately 7 years .

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Victor told me that Knoxville was his dog and he's had him since he was 19 weeks old and was 7 now. Victor
told me that the only issue the dog had ever was with his parent's dog and that because "they would go at
each other" and had only been twice in his entire life. Victor said he had no idea why Knoxville would have
acted this way and he had no concerns with introducing him to Ty and Isabella.

Victor said that Knoxville had always been "really gentle" with Ty and Isabella and spent a significant amount of
time with Ty in his room . Victor said he was thrown off by what happened and didn't understand why any
issue didn't occur previously since Knoxville had been comfortable with everyone already.

Victor said Knoxville had most recently been to Mead Veterinary clinic (Mead Veterinary Medical Center), and
he took him there for a broken leg approximately a year ago. While being treated for his leg , Knoxville
received up-to-date shots. Knoxville was also blind in his left eye due to an accident with a firework, and he
had a foggy film over the eye. Victor said that Knoxville was always an "ear nibbler" and a "gentle lover" and
would lay with him when they sleep. Victor said that Knoxville had been living at the 15712 address for 2-3
weeks . I asked Victor if he had any questions for me, and he immediately asked, "they put Knoxville down ,
right?" and said that it "absolutely" needed to happen .

After the family met with the surgeon , Robbie informed me that Mary's left arm was severed and would be
amputated , almost all the scalp tissue had been removed , she had significant facial damage, her left eye was
removed , and it was unlikely that she would be able to use her right eye again .

I spoke with Kayla at Children's Hospital , and she described Ty's injuries as the following :

• Right hand had multiple lacerations and two broken fingers.

During the search of the residence crime scene technicians located several pieces of flesh , bone fragments,
and tattered clothing . In the pile of vomit that Officer Fink observed come from Knoxville, a piece of flesh was
found .

Mary was ultimately taken off life support and passed away on 9/17/22 at approximately 10 am. The Jefferson
County Coroner's Office determined that the final cause of death was "cardiopulmonary arrest", due to
"complications of extensive bite injuries" and "dog attack". The final manner of death is listed as an "accident".

On 9/23/22, Ty and Isabella participated in a forensic interview, during the interview with Ty I noted the
following :

• Ty, Isabella, and Mary arrived at the house to pick up books for church . Ty tried to move the dogs to
Kayla's room because the family was afraid that the two dogs might scratch Mary when they were
excited.
• Ty tried to tell the dogs to go to Kayla's rooms and neither would listen . Ty said that he raised his voice
several times, and eventually Diablo went to the door. Knoxville was sitting under the table and
appeared scared .
• Ty said that he believed Knoxville was scared because he was raising his voice and that his owner,
Victor, was not there. Ty described Knoxville as sitting under the table , with his head low, and his tail
curled up behind him .

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 • Ty said that when he went to pet Knoxville , he was bitten "just a tiny bit", and maybe split his pinky. He
believed that because Knoxville had tasted blood his "animal instinct" made him want more.
• Ty said that he turned around and went toward the kitchen to get a paper towel , and Knoxville bit him in
the ankle. Ty described the pain on a 1-10 scale as greater than a 10.
• Ty said that he told Mary to go get help and she refused . Ty said that Mary was trying to pull on
Knoxville's collar. Ty said that he kicked Knoxville in the face and that's what caused him to let go.
• Ty said that Knoxville then attacked his left arm. Eventually, Ty was able to pull his arm away.
• Ty said that Diablo was just sitting and shaking because he was scared .
• Ty said that Isabella had taken his phone to try and call 911 and they ran outside.
• Ty got outside to the back porch and tried to close the screen door. Knoxville was able to open the
screen door and bit Ty's right hand. Ty said that during this attack he could feel his bones breaking .
• Ty said that when Knoxville was chewing on his hand , Diablo came out and licked his arm and tasted
blood. Ty said that Diablo then attacked Knoxville .
• Ty said that he was trying to "comfort" Knoxville because he was scared , and Ty told his grandmother
to go back inside because he didn't want her to get hurt. Mary refused and told him to run .
• Ty said he was upset that people were saying he was attacked by both dogs and felt like the reason he
was alive was because Diablo had rescued him .
• Ty said that "he" was not a hostile dog , and he had pictures of them together cuddling , and pictures of
the dogs playing together.
o The dog he was referencing was not clarified .
• Ty ran across the street where the neighbor called 911 .

During the interview with Isabella, I noted the following :

• Isabella said that they put the dogs in Kayla's room because they get excited when Mary is there and
that the dogs normally go into Kayla 's room , and it has been a normal routine for a month.
• Isabella said that it was Victor's dog (Knoxville) who did it and that Diablo was trying to protect Mary.
• Isabella believed that the taste of blood "triggered the outside animal" and began to attack Ty.
• Isabella said that Mary was holding Knoxville back but couldn't keep ahold of him and he came out to
the backyard.
• Isabella said that Knoxville came at her and Ty, but Ty put his arm out to protect her. Knoxville
continued to attack Ty.
• Mary grabbed Knoxville again and she and Ty were able to run through the house to get to the
neighbor.
• Isabella said that at some point Diablo came out and attacked Knoxville to protect the family.
• Isabella said that Victor has owned Knoxville since he was born, and she didn't know what happened .
• Isabella said that if Knoxville had "planned to do that" he would have done it way earlier
• Isabella said that Ty was trying to calm Knoxville down and pet him on the head before he was bitten .
• Isabella said that Ty began to run away from Knoxville , but Knoxville grabbed and chewed off one of
Ty's shoes and his heel.
• Isabella said that she tried to distract Knoxville as he was attacking Ty by calling his name, Knoxville
stopped attacking Ty and charged toward her, but Ty put his arm in between them .
• Isabella said that Knoxville began attacking Mary, and Diablo was attacking Knoxville .
• Isabella said that diablo was biting Knoxville on the neck and anywhere else he could get him .
• Isabella said that Diablo had been "all chewed up", Isabella said that he was "all torn apart" and then
said she didn't want to talk about it.

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A necropsy was conducted on both Knoxville and Diablo. The Necropsy was performed at the Colorado State
University Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratories. Dr. Kelly Hughes conducted the necropsy on Knoxville . Dr.
Hughes noted that there was "not clear evidence of human remains".

Dr. Allison Watson conducted the necropsy on Diablo. Dr. Watson noted that she did find human remains
inside Diablo's stomach, in the form of scalp and human hair, and two pieces of dark-colored clothing.

At this time there is no evidence to show that the dogs fought or injured each other.

Based on the aforementioned information , your affiant requests review for probable cause and , if found , respectfully
requests that a warrant be issued for the arrest of VICTOR SHANE BENTLEY, White, Male, 02/27/1993 on the charge(s)
of (1) OWNERSHIP OF DANGEROUS DOG-DEATH 18-9-204.S(J)(a),(d) 09/14/2022 (2) OWNERSHIP OF
DANGEROUS DOG-SBI 18-9-204.S(J)(a),(c) 09/14/2022. Mr. VICTOR SHANE BENTLEY is described as a white, Male,
6'00", 190 lbs., Brown hair, Hazel eyes. He has a Colorado identification card/driver's license number of and a
Social Security Number of . He is a (single/multi-state) offender with a state ID# and/or FBI#

Affiant

STEVENSON 15-6, Detective

Subscribed and sworn to before me in the county of Jefferson , State of Colorado, this 6th day of October, 2022.

JASON ISENHART
X
Notary Publ ic
State of Colorado
Notary ID# 20194035801 Notary Siqnature
My Commission Exp ires 09-18-2023

(Commission expiration date)

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