Dog owners in fatal mauling sent to prison

LAPEER (AP) — A man and his wife have been sentenced to nearly five years in prison for failing to control dogs who killed a cancer survivor as he jogged on a rural road.

Lapeer County Judge Nick Holowka said he couldn’t imagine a more “gruesome” death, although he also acknowledged that the owners didn’t intend to have the dogs kill Craig Sytsma.

Sytsma, 46, of Livonia, was mauled by two cane corsos who were loose while he was jogging a year ago in Metamora Township. He worked nearby as a metallurgist for a German company.

Sebastiano Quagliata, 46, and Valbona Lucaj, 45, had been charged with second-degree murder but pleaded no contest to owning a dangerous dog causing death.

The judge sentenced them to between four years and nine months and 15 years in prison.

Lucaj, a native of Albania, and Quagliata, a native of Italy, will get credit for about a year spent in custody since their arrest, which means they’ll be eligible for parole in 2019.

They could eventually be deported.