Four charged in dispute with bat, pit bull, fake gun

A dispute Sunday night in Newton involving a teenage boy, a pit bull, a baseball bat and what was originally thought to be a gun ended with four people being charged with disorderly conduct.

Police are saying the dispute started when a 14-year-old juvenile male riding in a vehicle shouted a comment at another driver, which Amanda S. Plumb, 27, thought was directed at her. Plumb followed the juvenile’s vehicle to 702 N. Second Ave. E. while also calling her brother, Cainen M. Plumb, 22, and her fiance, Rodney C. Lewis, 27, to tell them to find her because she was in trouble, police said.

A large argument ensued between the four parties in front of the residence, police said, with the juvenile holding a two-year-old black pit bull on a leash. In response to the juvenile threatening to have the dog attack the Plumbs and Lewis if they came on to the property, Cainen Plumb retrieved a baseball bat, police said. It was at this time that the juvenile’s mother, Denise Campbell, 41, told the boy to take the dog inside the residence, the report states.

When the boy emerged from the residence he allegedly was holding a stick, which the other
parties thought was a gun. When questioned by police, the juvenile said he had told the Plumbs and Lewis the gun was fake. The boy later said the gun was actually a stick, police said.

The Plumbs, Lewis and the juvenile were each charged with disorderly conduct, and Campbell was cited for not having the dog licensed. No one was injured.

The boy was referred to juvenile services while all four adults were released to appear in court.