Sheriff's officials, who run the county's animal-control agency, said the home of Charles O'Malley (aka Chuck O'Malley) and Diana O'Malley in Polk City, was filthy with urine and animal feces. It was so bad, deputies and animal-control officers had to wear face masks when inside, officials said.
"To call it horrific or shocking... those are just too common to describe the total filth in this house," Polk Sheriff Grady Judd said Thursday night.
The O'Malleys were arrested about 4:30 p.m. and were booked into the Polk County Jail Thursday night with bail set at $130,500 each — $500 per charge. They're accused of neglecting 261 dogs in their 3,000-square-foot home and on their property.
The couple runs Mid- Florida Retriever Rescue Inc., which Sheriff Grady Judd found ironic. "If you check their website, they make you put up $25. They want to check you out to make sure you're the right fit, that your home is clean and safe," Judd said.
Deputies and animal-control officers said the dogs were malnourished, infested with fleas and in poor health.
"These animals have been neglected, mistreated, and were living in deplorable conditions," Judd said.
When investigators entered the home on Wednesday, Deputy Mike Burdette wrote, he saw "wall to wall dogs throughout the residence."
Burdette said he "observed dogs in every room in the residence, to include closets, bathrooms, bedrooms, kitchens, porches, etc."
He noted there was not enough food or water for the animals.
The officers began to load the dogs into animal-control vehicles Wednesday, but just before midnight Wednesday, after 117 dogs were transported to Animal Control, the O'Malleys said their lawyer told them to stop unless a search warrant was provided.
Deputies - stopped removing dogs from the ammonia-filled home, but maintained the scene as a crime scene so the O'Malley's weren't able to go inside, grab dogs and run off with them.
A deputy returned and provided the warrant to the O'Malleys about 2:30 a.m. Thursday and they went back to removing more dogs from the disgusting house. By mid-morning Thursday, all the animals were seized and brought to Animal Control to be treated and recorded as evidence.
In all, 261 dogs and a bull were removed from the couple's property.
The bull was healthy but was seized because no one would have been able to care for it with the O'Malleys in jail, Judd said.
He said the couple lived in the home, including their master bedroom which had animals and their excrement scattered on the floor and bed, with its springs ripped from the fabric.
Burdette said he "observed dogs in every room in the residence, to include closets, bathrooms, bedrooms, kitchens, portches, etc."
"All items of furniture were observed destroyed," he wrote in the arrest reports. "The flooring of the residence was removed and bare concrete was throughout the residence, which was covered with feces and urine. The walls inside the residence are scratched and holes chewed through them throughout the entire residence."
Several dogs were aggressive and two deputies were bitten during the operation, Judd said.
Animal Control veterinarian Joe Ertel was still examining the dogs Thursday with the help of local veterinarians. Nearly all of the dogs were infested with fleas, had parasites like hookworm, were malnourished and had tartar buildup on their teeth, officials said.
Judd said one way to help make room at his shelter for the huge number of dogs would be to adopt other animals.
He said the poor conditions at this rescue group shouldn't be seen as an indictment on all. "Rescue groups are very important to us," he said. Mid-Florida had no reports of abuse on file. "Why this group got so out of control, I don't know."
The reason it got so out of control is because these hoarding type of people are drawn to the rescue business and so many people push for "no kill" that shelters are willingly handing over animals - no questions asked - to people who claim to be successfully finding homes for them. If someone shows up and says they found homes for five dogs, gimme five more -- HOW ABOUT YOU GET PAPERWORK AND CONTACT THE ADOPTER AND VERIFY THIS INFORMATION so you don't find out later it - along with all the others you blindly handed over - has been suffering - and dying - in conditions like these?
Of the 261 dogs seized, 35 are puppies. Among the breeds seized were Labradors, Golden Retrievers, Lab mixes, Great Danes, Australian cattle dogs, Shar-Peis, Dalmatians, Shepherd mixes, bulldogs and Belgian Malinois. Several had not been neutered or spayed, which is against rescue-organization policy.
(Orlando Sentinel - May 27, 2010)
