Woman accused of abusing dogs in Billerica released from custody following hearing

BILLERICA — A Cape Cod woman with a criminal history involving animal abuse is again facing animal cruelty charges after authorities say videos surfaced showing her beating and torturing her dog while she lived on Boston Road.

Amanda Marie Cianciulli, 36, of Centerville (Barnstable), who was arrested on Friday, has since been released from custody following a 58A dangerousness hearing that took place in Lowell District Court this week. As part of her release, she was ordered to stay away from all animals, including her four dogs.

The Billerica Police issued a press release stating Cianciulli “used a shock collar in a manner and purpose so as to torture a dog while it was secured in a cage,” and that she struck the dog while pinning it to the ground during a separate incident.

Cianciulli’s attorney, Stephen Barton, claims his client was training the dog, not abusing it. He also asserted that the woman who shared the videos of the alleged abuse with police had been blackmailing Cianciulli.

“This was not gratuitous, sadistic violence against animals,” Barton said. “This was (Cianciulli) training pit bulls who had been left at shelters and disciplining them so they could be placed with families.”

An incident report states the alleged abuse was brought to the attention of the Billerica Police on April 15 when a 30-year-old woman who said she used to live with Cianciulli at 23 Boston Road shared two videos of the violent behavior that she had captured on her cellphone.

Police said one video showed Cianciulli “holding a dog down and hitting it with an unknown object in the head while yelling ‘how’s it (expletive).’” The report states she forcefully struck the dog seven times “in quick succession” over three seconds.

In the other video, police said Cianciulli is seen putting a shock collar on a dog that is confined to a crate, while saying “‘guess what? Craaank’ (while manipulating what I suspect to be the shock collar remote).”

“The dog then begins to loudly yelp and she says ‘Doesn’t (expletive) feel nice, does it?’” police said in the report. “As the dog continues to yelp she says ‘cut it out!’”

The report later states the duration of the shock was 45 seconds, while adding Cianciulli “did torture” the dog “by utilizing the e-collar on the level of 100 while the dog was contained and not engaged in any behavior that would result in the need to shock the dog.”

The 30-year-old woman told police the videos were taken a month and a half previously. When asked why she waited over a month to report the abuse, she told police “she was trying to figure out how to do it without escalating the tension that was already present in the household,” the report states. The woman further claimed she was in fear of Cianciulli evicting her, but she has since moved out.

According to the police report, Cianciulli owns four dogs, all pit bull mixes, including 2-year-old “Millie,” the target of the alleged abuse in both videos. The 30-year-old and another witness claimed seeing abuse inflicted on all four dogs over the previous 10 months. The alleged abuse included Cianciulli punching the dogs, throwing them into walls, and forgetting to feed them. The witnesses also claimed Cianciulli was running an illegal kennel at the Boston Road residence.

When questioned by police, Cianciulli said all her dogs are rescues and “she just needed to do some fine tuning with them but they did not require training,” the report states. Cianciulli said Millie, meanwhile, “needed a lot of fine tuning as lately there are rules and regulations with the dogs not being followed.”

She admitted to using an “e-collar” on Millie, using the “vibrate setting.” Cianciulli denied ever punching, kicking, or slapping the dogs.

After she was placed under arrest, Cianciulli’s four dogs were transported to a veterinarian for examinations. The outcome of those examinations were not immediately available.

Barton claims the videos the police have depict Cianciulli disciplining Millie after she had attacked another dog. Barton described it “as an act of discipline,” while comparing the shock from the collar as a dog getting zapped by an invisible fence.

Barton said he plans to call on an expert witness who trains military dogs who he says will testify that the shock Cianciulli applied does not cause pain.

“It’s not a pain that’s inflicted, it’s a vibration that’s inflicted,” he said, adding the expert witness’ testimony will be, “It stuns them and makes them shake.”

Barton added the woman who brought the videos to police is a tenant who Cianciulli’s family has been trying to evict for months.

“This is all about disciplining very difficult dogs to deal with, so they can be placed with families, and a vindictive tenant who wants to stay and live for free,” Barton said.

This is not the first time Cianciulli has been accused of abusing a dog.

In May 2014, Cianciulli was arrested after a neighbor told police he saw her discipline her pit bull, “Ace,” by choking the dog with its collar, punching it and kicking the animal. She allegedly did this after the animal had escaped her home on Boston Road.

Cianciulli was charged with animal cruelty for this previous incident of abuse. Lowell District Court documents state the case was continued without a finding for one year while she was on probation. During that probationary term, Cianciulli was required to complete an anger management course. She was additionally granted supervised visits of Ace, but could not regain custody of the dog until completion of the probation.

Court documents show since Cianciulli stayed out of trouble for the full year, the animal cruelty charge was dismissed, and she was allowed to retake possession of Ace.

Ace is one of the four dogs referenced in the incident report about Cianciulli’s latest arrest.

Following Cianciulli’s arrest on Friday, she was held at the Billerica Police station on a bail that was set at $5,000. Court documents show she posted the bail and was released.

Cianciulli was arraigned on Monday by Judge John Coffey on two counts of animal cruelty. A 58A dangerousness hearing requested by the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office was held the same day. The hearing was used to determine if Cianciulli poses a threat to the public, and if so, if she should remain in custody as her case progresses in court.

Following the hearing, Coffey decided Cianciulli is not a danger, and released her with conditions, including not to possess any dogs, or animals in general, and to have no avoidable contact with animals.

Cianciulli is scheduled to return to court for a pretrial hearing on May 23.

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