(Stillwater, Okla.) — An ex-convict from Stillwater has been charged with intentionally dropping a small Chihuahua dog — that already had a broken leg — to the ground and punching his girlfriend in the face on Memorial Day in Stillwater.
Joshua William Wheaton, 28, got out of prison about four years ago after serving sentences for harboring a fugitive in Perkins, robbing a man in Stillwater and setting fire to toilet paper in the Payne County Jail, court records show.
Wheaton was arraigned on charges of animal cruelty and domestic violence on Friday. He remains free on $15,000 bail with an order to have no contact with his victim and to return to court on July 6, court records show.
Five years ago, Wheaton was given a two-year prison term followed by probation for five years for harboring another girlfriend at a house in Perkins while authorities were searching for her on a federal warrant in 2009, court records show.
Eight years ago Wheaton pleaded guilty to hitting a man on the back of his head with a paintball gun in Stillwater and stealing his computer in 2005, court records show. For that robbery, Wheaton was given a seven-year suspended sentence in 2008 that was changed in 2010 to a two-year prison term for a probation violation, court records show.
Also eight years ago, Wheaton pleaded guilty to unauthorized use of a man’s debit card to obtain $43 worth of merchandise at a Stillwater clothing store in 2005, for which he was given a 30-day jail term, court records show.
Nine years ago, Wheaton was 19 when he was sent to a prison boot camp program after admitting he set fire to toilet paper in the Payne County Jail, broke a broom and glass door in the jail, and punched another inmate on the head in 2005, court records show.
Two years later, Wheaton was given a seven-year suspended sentence for that arson, which was changed in 2010 to a two-year prison term for a probation violation, court record show.
According to state Department of Corrections records, Wheaton was actually in prison for only about five months in 2006 for arson, malicious injury to property and assault and battery – until he served about four months after his robbery, arson and harboring a fugitive probation was revoked in 2010.
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