Posted at 10:20 a.m., Friday, August 3, 2001

Sheriff pleads not guilty in dog feces case

By Mike Gordon
Advertiser Staff Writer

A deputy state sheriff pleaded not guilty in District Court today to child endangerment charges that allege he punished his two young daughters by forcing each to use her mouth to pick up dog feces.

Charles Canady, a 37-year-old Kalihi resident, allegedly forced his daughters to put the feces in the toilet as punishment for not cleaning up after the family puppy.

But the Honolulu Prosecutors' Office dismissed similar charges against Canady's live-in girlfriend, Theresa Danielson, who is a nurse at the Queen's Medical Center. She had been accused of using the a cat's toothbrush on one of the girls, gagging her at one point with cat toothpaste.

Canady's daughters, ages 10 and 12, are in the custody of Child Protective Services but Danielson's 8-year-old daughter remains with the couple. Canady's jury trial will begin the week of Sept. 4. He said nothing in court and his attorney, Guy Matsunaga, would not comment on the case.

Danielson's attorney, Paul J. Cunney, said the punishment was not a big deal.

"You've heard of spare the rod and spoil the child?" he told reporters outside the courtroom. "Some of these kinds of cases might appear disgusting but there's no damage... The toilet was right there, they just had to spit it out."

Cunney said the two girls had posed a serious discipline problem because they repeatedly played with matches.

"This didn't happen in one day," he said. "It went on and on an on."