AUGUSTA -- A person has been charged in connection with the death of the state’s first comfort dog.

The Penobscot County district attorney’s office says Brodie Hinckley has been charged with a civil violation of animal cruelty.

The 3-year-old chocolate lab named Baxter was found dead inside a state vehicle at the Bangor Regional Communications Center on May 28.

He was the Department of Public Safety’s first comfort dog to help improve the mood and well being of the dispatchers at Maine’s three emergency communications centers.

The department launched it’s own investigation into why the car he was in stopped running and caused the vehicles air conditioning to stop functioning.

See Full Page