Knox Woman Arrested Following October Dog Attack

Candice Simmons

A Knox woman was arrested on an active Starke Circuit Court warrant after a dog attack in October.

Candice Simmons was picked up on the warrant after a traffic stop in Cass County on Wednesday, November 30th, and faces two counts of Criminal Recklessness as a D Felony and as a Class B Misdemeanor and two counts of Harboring a Non-immunized Dog as a Class B Misdemeanor.

The charges stem from a incident on Oct. 6, when Marshall Garlach was attacked by Simmons’ dogs on her property.  Garlach was reportedly walking Simmons’ child to her home after Garlach saw him in his front yard. He reportedly told police that when he got inside the gate to the property and walked the boy up to the door Simmons’ dog started attacking him. He said the male dog knocked him to the ground and then the female dog started to attack him too. Garlach told police that he was able to get away from the dogs and call 9-1-1.

Garlach’s left ear was bitten off in the attack and the bites on his arms went to the bone. While police were talking to the dog’s owner, Candace Simmons, the male dog charged at police and was halted by verbal commands. The final time the dog charged at police, it didn’t stop, even with commands, and the officer had to shoot the dog to stop his aggressive charge. The owner admitted to police that the dog had attempted to attack her at times also.

She was being held in the Starke County Jail on $500 cash bond and she is not to have contact with Garlach.