A Sparta man convicted of dragging a Rottweiler from his SUV with a heavy chain and abandoning the dog along a Washington Park road has received the maximum 10-year prison sentence allowed under Illinois law. Tracy Eugene McKee, 62, was sentenced Tuesday, roughly a month after a jury found him guilty of animal torture, aggravated animal cruelty and animal cruelty in connection with the June incident that left the dog dead within days.
A Dog Left Along Bunkum Road
McKee received the sentence on Tuesday, a month after being convicted of animal torture, aggravated animal cruelty and animal cruelty, according to Fox 2 Now. Police found the dog alive but in distress along Bunkum Road in Washington Park after a report that a dog had been thrown from a vehicle, according to the Belleville News-Democrat. Prosecutors alleged McKee dragged the dog, a Rottweiler, from his SUV using a heavy chain and then abandoned him, per the same account.
Good Samaritans who witnessed the incident on security cameras helped the dog, according to KMOV. The dog was taken to an emergency veterinarian but died the following day. The station reported that the case involved a Rottweiler named Trek, though an earlier report from the same outlet identified the dog as a 7-year-old Rottweiler named Trick — a discrepancy that remains unresolved in the record of the case.
Security Footage and McKee's Own Account
Security video showed the dog had been dragged from a small blue SUV, the outlet's report noted. McKee told investigators he resorted to using his vehicle to slowly drag the dog away by a chain around its neck after unsuccessful attempts to lift the 70- to 80-pound animal into the SUV himself, the same report states. A St. Clair County jury found McKee guilty of animal torture and cruelty on August 4.
Gateway Pet Guardians Steps In
Gateway Pet Guardians, an East St. Louis animal shelter, helped pay for the dog's emergency veterinary costs after he was found. The shelter said prosecutors told the organization that McKee received the maximum sentence, and it expressed gratitude to the people who testified and helped care for the dog before his death, according to KMOV. The shelter also emphasized that holding people legally accountable for animal cruelty can be difficult, per the same report.
Under the sentence, McKee must serve at least five years in the Illinois Department of Corrections, followed by six months of mandatory supervised release, the Belleville News-Democrat reported. He will receive credit for roughly four months already served while awaiting trial. Gateway Pet Guardians praised the sentence, calling it the maximum allowable prison term for the case.
