COLUMBUS – Former Polk County EMS employee Michael David Purdy was convicted this week of lying to police following a dog mutilation case, for which he was fired in January.

Purdy was convicted of resisting public officer, which includes the act of lying to police, during Polk County District Court on Wednesday, July 12, according to court records.

Purdy was sentenced to 30 days in jail, which was suspended to serve one year of unsupervised probation, 50 hours of community service and court costs. Judge Athena Brooks asked that Purdy complete his community service at the humane society.

A second charge of resisting public officer was dismissed.

Purdy, who was 21 at the time of his charges in January, pleaded not guilty. There were motions to dismiss both charges, with one motion granted and the other denied during court.

Purdy was terminated from his county employment in January after he allegedly took a deceased dog from the Peniel and Little Mountain Rd. area near Columbus and mutilated it, according to initial reports.

The mutilation, according to Polk County Sheriff Donald Hill and District Attorney Greg Newman, involved Purdy skinning and beheading the dog. The dog, named Goliath, was a Shiloh Shepherd mix the family had owned for nine years.

Goliath was hit by an ambulance on the way to an emergency call on the night of Jan. 8 and Purdy allegedly went to the scene off duty to pick up the dog.

Because the dog was deceased, Newman said there is no law against what Purdy did to the dog.

Purdy was fired from the county as a result of not telling the truth about the series of events that led to him taking and mutilating the dog, according to county officials.