Dogs taken in raid stolen from shelter

Judy Odierna

Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2003 | 11:05 a.m.

Some of the dogs that authorities confiscated from suspected auto thieves earlier this month apparently were stolen from the Dewey Animal Control Center early Sunday morning.

Neither Metro Police, County Animal Control officials nor the director of the Dewey Animal Care Center would say how many dogs were stolen.

Dr. Joseph Freer, Dewey's director, said the thieves cut through a fence in the indoor-outdoor kennels to gain access to the dogs. A worker was on duty, but did not notice anything awry, he said.

"It's a big facility. We have a person here all night long, but he didn't pick up on it, which is easy to happen," Freer said. "He's cleaning and doing other things too."

The dogs were discovered missing about 4 a.m. Sunday.

The fence is being fixed today, Freer said.

Freer said he had suspicions about who might have stolen the dogs and has shared those with police.

"What kind of person steal dogs?" he said. "It doesn't get much lower."

Purebred dogs sell for hundreds of dollars, however, and that's one of the reasons that members of the Las Vegas Bulldog Club are suspicious about case. They said they were frustrated with the lack of explanations from authorities Tuesday.

The dog fanciers had been trying to make sure the canines were given vitamins and care and wanted to make sure that the dogs went to good homes.

The Bulldog Club had signed up to take most of the dogs if they were not claimed by last Thursday. A club member visited Dewey on Monday and learned of the break-in, but the club members couldn't get explanations from authorities as to what happened.

"We can't get a straight answer," Patti Merkt, the club's spokeswoman, said Tuesday.

The club had been keeping track of the dogs since Jan. 8, the day that Metro Police discovered 51 thirsty and hungry dogs boxed in their own excrement inside Artistic Pet, a grooming shop at 6620 E. Flamingo Road.

Police were investigating an auto theft ring at the time and the owner of the business, Graham Pickett, 32, was arrested in association with the ring. Police said that based on the looks of the dogs at the shop, they also suspected illegal dog breeding and dog fights. Many of the dogs found in the shop were pit bulls.

Joe Boteilho, manager of the county's animal control department, said Tuesday that his investigators have provided to the district attorney their findings about the poor condition of the animals.

The experts who examined the animals recommended that the district attorney prosecute on one count for failure to provide water, one count of torturing animals, one count of poor sanitation conditions and one count of handling an excessive number of animals, officials said.

"The DA is determining what charges to bring forward against Pickett" and his associate Dawn Wilson, Boteilho said.

While that decision was pending, however, Pickett was able to retrieve 10 to 12 of the dogs last week, authorities said.

Merkt was upset that the dogs were returned to Pickett, but Dewey had no choice because under state law dogs and other animals are considered property. Because no one else was able to prove ownership of the dogs within the first 10 days of their impoundment, Pickett was able to claim them, officials said.

Merkt said the system failed the dogs.

"If (animal control officials) had gotten off their bottoms and gotten the information over to the deputy district attorneys before now, the dogs would have been protected," Merkt said. "This whole thing is unbelievable."

Boteilho said the only way the dogs could have been kept from Pickett was with a court order.