Green Acre update: 4 indicted in deaths of dogs at Gilbert kennel
 

The indictment charges Jesse and Maleisa Hughes with 22 felony counts and seven misdemeanor counts of cruelty to animals, and one felony count of fraudulent schemes and artifices. Austin and Logan Flake are each charged with 21 felony counts and seven misdemeanor counts of cruelty to animals.

Green Acre update: 4 indicted in deaths of dogs at Gilbert kennel - ABC15 Arizona

This comment worries me: "Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake released a statement Wednesday, "This is simply the next step in the legal process, and I have confidence in that process."

The senator's son is one of the defendants. The senator's statement leads me to believe the senator expects his son to be found innocent. Sheriff Joe is really good, let's hope the prosecutors are too.

Oh wow, I didn't realize that about the son :mad:! He better get no special treatment or I'll have to hunt him down myself. Grrrrr.

Some people hate Sheriff Joe, but he does SO much for animals - many have no idea. He is tough as nails on criminals (fine w/ that!), but a total softy for our furry companions. I hope these criminals rot in jail for as long as possible.

It is scary that this happens

I'm one of those people who dislike Shereirf Joe, he seems to think the Bill of Rights is just a suggestion, and he's cost taxpayers millions because of this. Maricopa sheriff lawsuits cost taxpayers millions However, I am in favor of him throwing the book at these people, and I just can't believe they kept that many dogs in a small room and then left to go on vacation. I wonder why the pet owners didn't check out the facilities? It sad that people just read their description of the boarding facility and took their word for it. Also, when they found the dogs, why didn't they get help? Some of them probably could have been saved. What a miserable way to go.

I hope they get the max

How awful! :mad: I feel very sorry for the families of these pets. When they dropped off their pets for boarding, were they shown facilities? Or did the families rely solely on a website and description?

I hope the people responsible do not get special treatment because of their relationship to the senator.

There's no way they saw the facilities, I think people are way too trusting. I agree with you, I certainly hope the don't get special treatment.

I was wondering if the place maybe has nice facilities in one part, and these people herded the dogs into one room to save on a/c costs.

I agree, people are way too trusting.

I just did a google, and the advertised themselves as "cage free" boarding. Another site said, "

The fraud charge mirrors the allegations in a civil lawsuit filed by John Schill and Shawn Cunnington, the attorneys representing the dog owners. The suit alleges the dog owners were fraudulently led to believe their pets would be roaming free at Green Acre, playing with the Hughes' children, sleeping under their beds and frolicking in a spacious backyard.

Instead, the dogs were kept in a "dog room" that was not shown to prospective customers on tours of Green Acre. The 9-foot-by-12-foot room is where the Flakes said they left the dogs on June 19, and it was where the dogs were supposed to sleep. The Flakes found many of the dogs dead or sick the next morning, the suit said. 4 indicted in Green Acre dog-boarding deaths in Gilbert

As you read this story, it's even worse, "One of the dogs escaped and was found on the side of a Gilbert road weeks later, having been struck by a car. Most of the pets were found dead on the facility's grounds."

Just a nightmare for those poor dogs. Left there by their owners, wondering what was going to happen to them, anxious and wanting to go home to their beds and toys - and then they are just left by the supposed caretakers to apparently slowly bake to death, all alone. Who knows if they even had food or water or if they dispatched with that the first couple of days after the kennels owners just left them on their own with no one constant attendants to exercise, play, cuddle and change their water, feed them, clean their quarters. Apparently no one even checked on their well-being even a few times a day, it sounds like. This is pure greed, irresponsibility at its zenith, neglect, cruelty and depraved indifference to the well-being of animals who cannot fend for themselves and must depend on humans when they are kept in kennels in the maximum heat of Arizona.

I hope that sheriff throws the book at them and puts them in one of those tents I heard he used should these people ever get any jail time. Let them bake a while! They should know what that feels like for at least a day to know unremitting heat that almost suffocates you! Likely, as they have an "in" with a senator, they will get off with a wrist slap and fine. But that's the way it is when most animals are injured or killed at the hands of humans and the people face "justice". Animals usually see very little of it.

Awful! They betrayed these dogs and their trusting families. :mad:

Excellent idea!