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Correction Officer Arrested After 8-Year-Old Son Calls 911, NYPD Says

By Trevor Kapp | October 10, 2017 7:52am
 A Department of Correction officer was arrested for leaving his young kids home alone with loaded guns in the house.
A Department of Correction officer was arrested for leaving his young kids home alone with loaded guns in the house.
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DNAinfo/Theodore Parisienne

EAST HARLEM — A city correctional officer was arrested after his 8-year-old son called 911 to report that he and his 4-year-old sister were alone in their East 119th Street apartment — where police later found a pair of loaded guns and a gaunt dog lying in a pool of urine, officials said Monday.

Ronald McDonagh, 48, was charged with torturing the dog and acting in a manner injurious to his two children for the incident inside a first-floor apartment on East 119th Street between Third and Lexington avenues Sunday around 9:30 a.m., according to police.

When officers from the 25th Precinct came to the apartment, McDonagh told them he had just stepped out to buy juice and milk, the NYPD and Manhattan District Attorney's Office said.

McDonagh then brought his kids into the first-floor hallway of the building. When police later went inside, they found garbage and clothing strewn about and smelled urine, according to a criminal complaint.

They also found a loaded Glock 26 and one Beretta unsecured on a shelf in an open closet, prosecutors said.

The dog, which appeared "emaciated and frail," had an empty bowl in its cage and its coat was matted, according to court papers.

McDonagh was charged with torturing the dog and endangering the kids, police said. 

He was released on his own recognizance at his arraignment in Manhattan Criminal Court and is due back Nov. 11.

The DOC referred all questions to the NYPD.

McDonagh's lawyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment.