A “man” — we use “man” in the loosest way possible — in New Jersey is accused of the unthinkable: beating his puppy on several occasions, leading to the pup’s death, lying about the circumstances and scamming GoFundMe out of nearly $15,000 under the pretense of a sad “accident.”
The campaign has been closed for donations (archive here), and all that remains on Google is this blurb:
In a statement on their Facebook page, Medford Township Police say 24-year-old Reid Herjo has been charged with third degree Animal Cruelty and third degree Theft by deception after a series of events beginning in January.
In late January, Medford Township cops stopped Herjo for speeding. He told them he was taking his then 14 week old German Shepherd puppy Atlas to the vet; he claimed Atlas had been struck by an ATV. Five days after that traffic stop, police received information that Herjo may have lied to them about how exactly Atlas got hurt. It is not known who provided that information to authorities.
At this point, Medford Township Police, with some help from the New Jersey State Police, opened up an investigation and determined that this human piece of excrement intentionally injured his pup; Atlas’ injuries consisted of numerous fractures and hemorrhaging.
As if that weren’t enough to make you think this guy should be sequestered to a remote planet without oxygen in the atmosphere, the investigation also determined that in the six weeks Atlas was in his “care,” the little guy sustained injuries on two other occasions. Herjo said the pup fell down the stairs in December, and down a hill in January.
On February 3, Atlas died. There is evidence that he sustained additional trauma after the January incident.
Now, at this point this guy is in the running for evil turd of the decade and working toward a sweet internship as Satan’s personal fleshlight in the afterlife, but it gets worse. Using the “poor puppy got hit by a car” narrative, Herjo set up a GoFundMe campaign and made off with $14,065 from 693 individual donors in a month’s time.
It seems Herjo had no qualms whatsoever pleading his fake story to people in the hopes they’d spread his campaign and garner him further financial support. All so he could beat the poor dog to death in the end.
Reid M. Herjo was charged on March 28, 2018. We commend the Medford Township Police Department for their diligence in this case. It is too late for Atlas, but never too late for justice.
