Squaw Valley man faces trial for pulling a gun to save two puppies

Dog lover John DiLorenzo thought he was doing the right thing when he pointed a gun at a backhoe operator and stopped him from smashing a dilapidated shed where two abandoned puppies lived.

With the hammer cocked, DiLorenzo yelled for someone to call 911, hoping Fresno County sheriff’s deputies would arrive in time to arrest the backhoe operator and save the dogs.

Instead, a deputy allowed the building to be smashed, one puppy died, and DiLorenzo was arrested on a felony charge in May.

Four months after the incident in Squaw Valley, DiLorenzo and his lawyer, Donna Standard, are scratching their heads, wondering why he is in trouble.

“I think what the DA is doing is unconscionable,” Standard said outside a Fresno courtroom last week.

Standard said the law is clear that a person can use a gun to save the life of dog. She also said DiLorenzo had a right to draw a weapon because Robert Cossey, 58, had thrown the 75-year-old DiLorenzo off the backhoe. DiLorenzo said he fell at least seven feet and injured his back and head. “I was the one seriously assaulted,” DiLorenzo said.

Prosecutors have a policy against talking about pending cases. But a sheriff’s report states a deputy arrested DiLorenzo on May 10 because he threatened to kill Cossey.

“That’s because he was going to kill me,” DiLorenzo insisted.

Standard said she looks forward to presenting DiLorenzo’s case to a Fresno County Superior Court jury. “The sheriff’s deputy who arrested Jack aided and abetted in a crime to abuse an animal. He knew there were puppies on the property, but he didn’t care if they died.”

Though one puppy did die, Standard said, DiLorenzo returned to the property after he posted $25,000 bail and rescued the other one. “A vet told me if the puppy hadn’t been rescued, he would have died a slow and painful death,” Standard said.

DiLorenzo and Standard said the public should be outraged by the deputy’s actions.

But Cossey’s 32-year-old daughter, Crystal Cossey, who witnessed the incident, said DiLorenzo and his lawyer shouldn’t be blaming others.

“He’s the one who pointed a gun at my father and threatened to kill him,” Crystal Cossey said.

Rural life

Squaw Valley, in the foothills 40 miles east of Fresno, attracts residents who want to escape city life for peaceful surroundings. It also is a haven for the homeless, marijuana growers and people who want to live off the grid.

DiLorenzo, who is hard of hearing, stutters and likes to be called Jack, lives alone with 15 dogs in a double-wide mobile home at the end of an unmarked road off Butternut Lane. His 10-acre, hilltop home is fenced with a “No Trespassing” sign and it has cameras that scan the surroundings.

He said he used to work as a construction manager in Philadelphia and West Point, N.Y.. Divorced for 20 years, he first retired in Sarasota, Fla. before moving to Squaw Valley about three years ago. He said he moved to Squaw Valley to be near his children, who live in the Bay Area.

Over the years, DiLorenzo said he has saved dozens of stray dogs and found homes for them. He says he spends nearly $200 a month to feed his rescued animals and hundreds more on veterinary bills.

Strange facts

The case against him has a strange set of facts that includes the unexplained death of Crystal Cossey’s mother, Amee Nichols, 54, who perished in a barn fire on March 22 on Sand Creek Road in Squaw Valley. Nichols had been reported missing before the fire. Witnesses heard several loud explosions.

In a telephone interview, Crystal Cossey said sheriff detectives have never explained how her mother died.

Sheriff’s spokesman Tony Botti said in an email that Nichols’ official cause of death has not yet been determined. “Not sure of the manner, but it will not be a homicide,” he said. “There were small explosions heard inside, but that’s believed to be from household combustible materials stored inside.”

Though Crystal Cossey, who lives in Southern California, says DiLorenzo didn’t cause her mother’s death, she called him a “crazy, old kook” who is trying to gain sympathy for a criminal act on her father.

Most of the people in Squaw Valley are friendly, DiLorenzo said. Many of them mind their own business and like being armed, he said.

Crystal Cossey owns an 11-acre spread next to DiLorenzo’s property. DiLorenzo said he and Crystal Cossey were on friendly terms until the backhoe incident.

In fact, Crystal Cossey gave DiLorenzo a handwritten note a week before the incident, telling him he had permission to go to her property to take care of the stray dogs.

In the telephone interview, Crystal Cossey admitted giving DiLorenzo the note, but now blames him for her mother’s death.

“If he just minded his own business, my mother would be alive today,” she said.

Life off the grid

According to Crystal Cossey and DiLorenzo, Nichols lived on her daughter’s property with several homeless people in homemade shacks and dilapidated camper shells. The property had no toilets or trash pickup, making it unsafe, DiLorenzo said.

“My mother wanted to live off the grid. I can’t explain why she did what she did,” Crystal Cossey said.

For months, DiLorenzo ignored his neighbors. But once stray dogs came onto his property, DiLorenzo said he had to take action. “They were starving, dirty and neglected,” DiLorenzo said. “It broke my heart to see what they were doing to these poor animals.”

He made several calls to the SPCA, county animal control, the health department and the Sheriff’s Office, but his pleas were ignored.

However, he said Alan Weaver, the county’s public works director, took an interest in his complaint. After an investigation, the Public Works Department cited Crystal Cossey in November 2014, ordering her to pay a fine and to clean up her property.

In January this year, the county declared her property was a nuisance, in violation of laws that protect the health, welfare, safety and quiet enjoyment of neighboring residents.

Crystal Cossey said she had no choice but to tell her mother and the others to leave so she could clean up the property.

But when Nichols and the squatters vacated, they left behind several dogs, including small puppies, DiLorenzo said.

For the next few months, DiLorenzo said he trapped the dogs and took them to his house. But two or three puppies refused to leave their homes underneath a rundown structure, DiLorenzo said. Instead of scaring them, DiLorenzo said he left food for them, hoping they would become friendly toward him, so he could take them.

Crystal Cossey said she tried to work with DiLorenzo, but she also had a deadline looming to clean the property. That’s when she asked her father to rent a backhoe to help her.

She and Dilorenzo disagree on what happened next.

DiLorenzo said he and Robert Cossey got into an argumenton the phone about the stray puppies. DiLorenzo wanted to save the puppies before work began; he said Robert Cossey wanted to start work right away.

DiLorenzo said Robert Cossey arrived with the backhoe a day earlier than expected, forcing him to take action.

Crystal Cossey said she had given DiLorenzo enough time to save the animals. She also said that when she and her father arrived with the backhoe, she looked for the puppies with DiLorenzo, but the dogs were gone.

A sheriff’s report says DiLorenzo and a friend drove onto Crystal Cossey’s property. “They exited and John was upset about the removal of the structure due to the dogs being inside,” the report says. “Robert (Cossey) stated John became extremely enraged and started yelling and cussing at him and his daughter.”

Robert Cossey told sheriff’s deputies he continued to destroy the structure because workers were scheduled to arrive the following day. He said DiLorenzo then climbed onto the backhoe and attacked him from behind. Robert Cossey said he pushed DiLorenzo off the backhoe, the report says.

Dazed on the ground, Dilorenzo said he got up and went to his car. He said he grabbed a loaded revolver and handed an unloaded shotgun to his friend. According to the Cosseys, DiLorenzo pointed the gun at Robert Cossey, cursed him and said, “I’m going to kill you.”

In the sheriff’s report, DiLorenzo admitted he pointed the gun at Cossey. “He feared that Robert was being violent and would attack him,” the report says. He said he climbed onto the backhoe, not to attack Cossey, but to turn it off. He said he was able to grab the keys and throw them onto the dirt.

While Crystal Cossey called 911, DiLorenzo held her father at gunpoint until law enforcement arrived. “John stated he wanted Robert arrested for battery and was adamant that he had to point his gun at Robert to defend himself,” the report states.

The deputy, however, arrested DiLorenzo and his friend (the friend has not been charged with a crime).

The report says DiLorenzo suffered several abrasions to his arms and stated he had a headache as a result of the fall from the backhoe.

Outside court last week, DiLorenzo said he believes Robert Cossey’s goal was to kill the puppies. “They wanted revenge because Crystal blames me for her mother’s death,” he said. “But I wasn’t the one who evicted her.”

He said he called the dog he rescued “Lucky.”

His lawyer said they have been to at least four court hearings, but each time the prosecution has asked for a delay in giving DiLorenzo a trial. His next hearing is Sept 29.

Preparing for a tough legal fight, Standard said she found it ironic that Fresno firefighters were praised recently for saving a puppy trapped in a canal filled with water and the District Attorney’s Office was lauded for forming an animal cruelty unit to stop animal abuse.

“Where’s the justice in prosecuting Jack when all he was trying to do is save two puppies from an agonizing death?” the lawyer said.

This story was originally published September 5, 2015 at 5:20 PM with the headline "Squaw Valley man faces trial for pulling a gun to save two puppies."