AKRON, Ohio -- An Akron woman with a history of failing to control her dogs was charged with 21 misdemeanors after her pit bulls attacked four people last month in East Akron, according to police and court records.

Diane Yanke, 58, of East Archwood Avenue, faces five counts of having a vicious dog, and three counts each of serious physical harm caused by a dog, having an unsecured pit bull, having an uninsured pit bull, having an unconfined pitbull, having an unvaccinated pit bull and one charge of operating a kennel, Akron Municipal Court records show.

Yanke’s three dogs attacked four people, including a postal service worker, on March 4, according to Akron police.

The first attack happened as a 36-year-old social worker got out of her van on Reed Avenue, according to a police report. She reported the dogs pulled her to the ground and began biting the lower half of her body.

A 32-year-old neighbor heard the woman’s scream and tried to intervene, police said. In trying to get the dogs off the woman, he was bitten “numerous times” in his left arm, according to a police report.

The dogs ran over to a 38-year-old mail carrier and bit his left thigh, police said. The mail carrier pepper-sprayed them and the dogs ran east. The social worker and neighbor were brought to Summa Health with “extensive injuries,” according to police.

About half an hour later and a mile away, the dogs attacked again, police reported.

A 57-year-old woman reported she was walking on the 1100 block of Milton Street between Roscoe Avenue and Chittenden Street when she was mauled by three dogs who bit her head, arms and legs.

A group of men who were driving by saw that she needed help. First, they tried to pull the woman away from the dogs by dragging her into the moving car. When that did not work, the men got out and began hitting the dogs with sticks, which prompted the pack to run away. Paramedics brought the woman to Summa where she was also treated for “extensive injuries,” police said.

The March 4 attacks weren’t the first time Yanke’s pit bulls attacked people in East Akron, court records show.

Yanke pleaded no contest and was found guilty of having a vicious dog and unsecured pit bull in connection with a Sept. 18, 2018 attack on Archwood Avenue, according to Akron Municipal Court records. She was sentenced to serve 180 days in jail but the entirety of that sentence was suspended. Yanke was also ordered to obey all laws for one year, until Oct. 30, 2019.

Less than three months later, Yanke was in court again after a Dec. 13 incident on Merton Avenue, court records show. Yanke pleaded guilty to having an unsecured pit bull and was sentenced to serve 60 days in jail, with 60 days suspended. She was again ordered to obey all laws until Feb. 20, 2020, as well as to obey all laws related to pit bulls.

Yanke is expected to appear in court April 26 for a pretrial hearing before Judge Jerry Larson.

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