Hoarding - 12 dogs seized Dearborn Heights, MI (US) Incident Date: Tuesday, May 31, 2005 County: Wayne Local Map: available Disposition: Alleged Alleged: Man

Case ID: 6440 Classification: Hoarding Animal: dog (non pit-bull) View more cases in MI (US) Login to Watch this Case

In June 2005, Dave Miller, Animal Control expert for the Dearborn Heights Police Department, recounts a scene he said he would never forget. The walls were covered in mold, all manner of insects scurried across the floor, the stench of animal feces was heavy in the air and 12 dogs � all Cocker Spaniels � lay sick from disease and years of mistreatment.

For Miller, this small home in the area of Kinloch Street between Ann Arbor Trail and Joy Road was as close to hell as he had ever wanted to get. "This is probably one of the worst that I have ever seen," Miller said. "It's bad, real bad."

And it's been bad for several years, according to a woman that lives near the home. The woman wished to remain anonymous for fear of reprisal from the homeowner. "It's gotten to the point where we can smell the feces from his yard whenever we're outside," she said. "We don't like to have barbecues anymore because the smell is so bad."

After the woman's daughter helped to catch one of the disease-ridden dogs that had escaped through a hole in the fence of the backyard of the home, police were able to confirm that the escaped dog, who suffered from blindness, malnutrition, lice, overgrown toenails and also had several large tumors on its body, belonged to the homeowner and were able to obtain a warrant to search the home in June 2005. "That house was completely unlivable for anyone," Miller said.

Things in the home had become so bad, Miller said, that two of the dogs had to be put to sleep while the others were placed in foster homes. "I'm furious that someone could do this to a dog," the woman said. "I have a dog myself. It's just too horrible to imagine."

Miller said that the man was charged with animal abandonment and/or cruelty, although 20th District Court Judge Mark J. Plawecki later dismissed the case against him in early November 2005.

The judge cited a violation of the "knock and announce rule" by the DHPD and the Dearborn Heights Animal Control Division during their execution of the search warrant for the home as a reason for the dismissal. The rule states that a law enforcement officer is required to notify a party of his presence and authority, and is permitted to break open a door only in cases when entry is refused. The decision infuriated the man's neighbor, who said that she had been ready to testify against the man in court if needed. "I would have been glad to do it," she said.

However, while those charges were dismissed, Kerry Armstrong, clerk for Judge Pawlecki, said that the man would return to court later this month on a related animal waste violation charge.

Miller said that the decision of the initial case has also been appealed, although it could take several months to receive a response. "Right now, we're waiting to hear something," he said.

Following the decision by Pawlecki to dismiss the charges, the man was allowed to return to his home, which was still deemed uninhabitable, with a building inspector to determine the extent of the repairs that would be required to make the home inhabitable again. "We didn't see any reason to condemn the home," said Mohamed Sobh, director of the Building Department. "It was still structurally sound." Sobh said that man was told he would have until the first week of December to fix the violations present inside and outside the home, although the building department would work with him if he could show that repairs to the home were still in progress at that time.

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References

Heritage Newspapers - December 7, 2005

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