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Nikolay Lukyanchikov, of Northampton Township, pleaded guilty on Wednesday, March 23, to multiple counts of receiving stolen property, aggravated cruelty to animals, possessing an instrument of crime, cruelty to animals, and recklessly endangering another person.
Lukyanchikov, who prosecutors claim was "highly intoxicated" during the April 30, 2021 incident, was also ordered by a judge not to own, possess, or care for any animals of any kind, the Bucks County District Attorney's Office said.
Lukyanchikov adopted an 8-year-old greyhound named Bonanza, from the National Greyhound Adoption Program in Philadelphia after the dog was rescued from a Macau, China, racetrack in February 2019. The animal was one of 118 greyhounds saved from the racetrack, which was described by animal rights activists as “the worst hellhole for racing greyhounds in the world," according to the DA's office.
Lukyanchikov later renamed the dog, Preacher.
Northampton Township officers responding to reports of an open fire found Lukyanchikov sitting on a bench at his Holly Knoll Drive home near a fire pit and burning couch setting fake $100 bills on fire with lighter fluid, prosecutors said. They also spotted a 9-mm handgun on the bench, which turned out to be a gun that fired blanks.
Once the fire was out, officers noticed an animal -- later determined to be Lukyanchikov's dog -- badly burned on top of a small metal charcoal grill, they said.
Lukyanchikov’s roommate reportedly told police she had heard gunshots from his room earlier that day, and that he had admitted to her that he shot his dog with his 9mm Beretta handgun and hid it outside.
Authorities recovered the gun with an extended magazine and five hollow-point rounds, after walking through a bloody hallway in the home, where they found bullet holes in a bedroom, they said.
Lukyanchikov admitted that he shot his dog to put it out of its misery, but also because he was "having a bad day," Deputy District Attorney Robert D. James said.
The gun used to kill the animal was stolen from the widow of Lukyanchikov's friend a week before the incident, after his roommate refused to buy him a gun, James said.
Lukyanchikov had been deemed a person not to possess a firearm due to a prior involuntary commitment in 2011, prosecutors said.
Since then, he tried to buy a firearm but was declined, and even wrote to the state to have his rights to possess a firearm restored, James said.
This case was investigated by Northampton Township Police Department, and was prosecuted by Deputy District Attorney Robert D. James.
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