2 Charged After Dogs Brutally Attack Health Care Worker

Police have arrested a woman and her boyfriend in connection with a vicious dog attack in Plainfield that left a home health care worker seriously injured last December.

Jenna Allen, 29, and Corey Beakey, 29, both residents of Plainfield's Wauregan Village, turned themselves in around 12:45 p.m. on Monday. 

Police said health-care worker Lynne Denning, 56, of Canterbury, was caring for an elderly patient at Beakey and Allen's home on Putnam Road when two dogs mauled her Dec. 3.

Town records list Allen as one of the dogs' owners.

Denning "suffered brutal injuries" to her face, chest, arms and legs and has undergo at least 13 surgeries in the months since, according to police and family members.

Town officials confiscated five Rottweilers and a Labrador from the home. The dogs, which were all present at the time of the attack, were quarantined at the Plainfield Animal Shelter.

Days later, officials announced plans to euthanize the dogs but said in August they were unable to prove four of the dogs took part in the attack and opted to return them to their owners. The move sparked outrage among townspeople.

Denning's husband said he's pleased by the arrest but doesn't understand how the town can justify allowing any of the dogs to go home.

He said he and his wife will attend a state Department of Agriculture meeting this Wednesday to discuss the attack and the dogs' fates. According to the attorney representing Allen and Beakey, Wednesday's meeting will determine whether the dogs will be euthanized.

Attorney Ryan Barry said in a statement Monday "the timing of this arrest is dubious."

"The Plainfield Police Department could have made these arrests at any point in the past nine months but they chose to pursue the charges 2 days before the hearing," Barry said in the statement. "This was a very calculated and underhanded tactic by the Plainfield Police Department, making it almost impossible for Jenna to exercise her constitutional rights to defend herself."

Allen was charged with reckless endangerment in the second degree, two counts of possession of a nuisance dog and five counts of failure to comply with dog license requirements.

Beakey, who previously told NBC Connecticut the animals are show dogs and are safe, was charged with reckless endangerment in the second degree.

Both were released on $10,000 bond and are scheduled to appear in Danielson Superior Court on Sept. 28.

The Norwich Bulletin reported in June that the Denning family plans to sue the town for failing to control the dogs.

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