A juvenile in Julesburg suffered two large lacerations to his left leg — one measuring roughly 4 by 4 inches — after being bitten by a dog near Seventh Street and a Methodist church on October 1. The dog's owner, Johnny Hatch, was identified in connection with the incident. The sheriff's office said the serious injury elevated the matter to a felony offense requiring custodial arrest.
According to a press release from Sedgwick County Sheriff Koby Quayle published by the Julesburg Advocate, the Sedgwick County Sheriff's Office communications center first received a report of a dog bite involving a juvenile in Julesburg on October 1. Hatch himself was identified as the initial complainant, reporting that he heard a scream and found a child bleeding from the leg. The dog, named Titan, was described in the release as large, white or whitish-tan, and approximately 70 pounds.
Deputy Diaz was advised of the incident at 5:17 p.m. that day and instructed dispatch to keep the call open and to notify the Town of Julesburg, per the sheriff's account. Hospital staff separately called to report that a dog-bite victim had arrived at the emergency room, and personnel there were also advised to follow up with town officials. The boy's mother told the sheriff's office her son had a severely damaged leg and that the dog had taken a chunk out of it, and she said the family needed the dog's vaccination information to determine whether he would need rabies treatment.
Jurisdictional Gap Complicated the Response
The instructions to loop in Julesburg's government came amid a dispute over policing responsibilities. The sheriff's office said Julesburg had elected not to enter an intergovernmental law-enforcement agreement.
Sedgwick County Sheriff's Office policy is to respond to serious bodily injury or other exigent circumstances regardless of jurisdictional boundaries, the release states. That standard came into play roughly seventy minutes after the initial call, when the sheriff's office learned the injury could rise to the level of serious bodily injury and initiated an immediate response. Undersheriff Brettell said the office would handle the incident, explaining that the severity of the injury was the deciding factor. Sedgwick County, a rural county bordering Nebraska with roughly 2,223 residents and Julesburg as its county seat of about 1,200 people, sits at the center of the dispute, according to the World Population Review.
Prior Bite Incidents Factored Into Felony Charge
A doctor at Sedgwick County Medical Center determined the boy's injuries met Colorado's statutory definition of serious bodily injury and completed and signed the sheriff's office's serious bodily injury form. Under state law, that threshold covers injuries carrying a substantial risk of death, serious permanent disfigurement, or protracted loss or impairment of a bodily organ or function, among other criteria, according to CLDG Legal. Medical providers are required under Colorado law to report dog bites believed to involve a dangerous dog to local law enforcement, per statute cited by FindLaw.
Deputy Diaz arrived at the hospital, photographed the victim's injuries, and provided the family with victim advocate information, a case-number business card, and a VINE notification card, the sheriff's release states. Undersheriff Brettell separately contacted Hatch at his residence near West 7th and Maple Street. Officers determined there was probable cause to arrest him, and the sheriff's office said prior incidents involving Titan — in August and October 2025 — were considered in assessing the dog's dangerous-dog status and the probable cause for arrest. Court proceedings tied to those earlier incidents were still ongoing at the time of the October 1 bite.
The incident was elevated to a felony offense requiring custodial arrest. For a second or subsequent violation, the statute provides for a Class 6 felony and potential penalties of one to one-and-a-half years in prison, a year of mandatory parole, and fines between $1,000 and $100,000, according to CLDG Legal.
No Shelter, No Budget — Where Does the Dog Go?
The arrest didn't resolve what happens to Titan. Colorado law bars the sheriff's office from seizing and euthanizing an animal based solely on an arrest without a court order; instead, the animal must be housed, quarantined, and cared for until judicial proceedings conclude unless it poses an active, imminent threat, per the statute referenced by Colorado Public Law. Sedgwick County does not maintain an animal shelter or animal-facility staff, and the release notes the county has no budget to pay for third-party boarding and care, which could extend for a year or longer.
The county's lack of an animal shelter and budget for third-party care leaves animal care as a logistical concern while court proceedings move forward. The Sedgwick County Sheriff's Office remains primarily responsible for law enforcement in the unincorporated areas of the county, even as its relationship with Julesburg's town government over policing responsibilities continues to be worked out.
Beyond the criminal case, Colorado law allows victims who suffer serious bodily injury from a dog bite to pursue civil personal injury claims against an owner regardless of whether that owner knew the animal was dangerous, according to Robinson & Henry, P.C. That civil liability operates separately from, and alongside, the felony prosecution now pending against Hatch.
