WARREN — A Warren woman has been charged under the city’s new bestiality law.

Municipal Court records show that Amber Finney, 33, 1125 Ward St. NW, has been charged with engaging in sexual conduct with animals.

Warren police detective Nick Carney said he was assigned to the case Tuesday. It involves a woman shown on video performing sexual acts on a dog. Tribune Chronicle news partner WKBN 27 reported receiving the video from a viewer and the station brought the video to police, Carney said.

According to reports, Finney is out of town and expected to turn herself in next week. The woman told police that the video was fake.

City Council’s 10-0 vote on June 22, 2016, made Warren the first city in Ohio to pass a bestiality law with enhanced penalites for those convicted of having sex with animals.

The law, introduced by Councilman John Brown, D-3rd Ward, made bestiality a first-degree misdemeanor, meaning the person, if convicted, may receive a jail sentence of up to 180 days and given a $1,000 fine for each count, and any person found guilty may be required to pay for boarding and care of the animals.

The legislation also would let a judge order the removal of the animals from the person suspected of the abuse until the end of an investigation or trial

The law originiated from the case of Salvador Rendon of Warren, who investigators say had sex multiple times over six years with two boxers in his Ward Street NW home. Rendon pleaded guilty to a charge of animal cruelty and was sentenced by Municipal Judge Thomas Gysegem to 90 days in jail, 60 of which were suspended.

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