Arrest warrant issued in Springfield dog attack case

A 34-year-old Springfield man is facing multiple charges after investigators said he illegally had a dog that was suspected of attacking a 6-year-old boy last week.

Assante Cameron is charged with failure to register a dog, confinement of dogs and possession of dogs by a convicted felon, according to court records.

Cameron is suspected of owning "Onyx," the dog which was said to have attacked a 6-year-old Georgia boy in the 1000 block of Sherman Avenue July 30.

The boy received more than 200 stitches and had plastic surgery.

"My son could have lost his eye," said Ashley Fellows, mother of the dog bite victim. "He had a gash ... under the right side of his eye. If the dog would have kept ... any further, my son's eye would have probably would have been gone.

Court records show Cameron was convicted on drug charges in 2012 and was sentenced to three years and prison. As part of the sentence, he was not permitted to have an unspayed or unneutered dog older than 12 weeks for three years after his release from prison. Cameron would have been out of prison for three years in November.

Investigators also determined "Onyx" did not have a current 2018 license and Cameron also is accused of failing to keep "Onyx" under reasonable control.

A warrant was issued for Cameron's arrest, court officials said.

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