Santa Fe police Officer David Rael said he plans to speak with the District Attorney’s Office about evidence that real estate agent Jacob Smith, 28, left his dogs, Georgia and Leo, in his apartment on Pino Road, a small residential street in a neighborhood southeast of the state Capitol.
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| RIP Georgia and Leo |
Neither police nor news reporters have been able to locate Smith, and investigators say they don’t know his whereabouts.
Although his name hasn’t been previously reported in news accounts about the discovery, commenters posting on Smith’s Facebook page have expressed shock and dismay. “Your rescue pups are dead from starvation,” said one. “How can you live with yourself?”
Attorney Dayan Hochman, an acquaintance, said a number of Smith’s friends would have been happy to care for Georgia and Leo — and had offered to do so. “I loved those dogs. I would have taken them in a heartbeat,” she said.
“I’m really angry,” she added.
Hochman said that Smith told friends he had arranged for a caregiver, but couldn’t name the person.
The remains of the emaciated dogs were found Nov. 4 in an apartment Smith rented in the area behind Kaune’s grocery store. Rael said there was a 5-pound bag dog food on a kitchen counter, but the animals were unable to reach it. The inside of the apartment was fouled by dog urine and feces, indicating no one had been there for some time.
According to Rael, the apartment was also littered with empty wine bottles.
A neighbor, who asked to remain anonymous, said she had not seen Smith for about six to eight weeks. She said the dogs used to bark at anyone passing by from the patio, but she had not heard them for about a month. She believed the dogs were miniature Doberman pinschers. Police believe them to be Chihuahua mixes.
After a worried neighbor called to express concern about Smith’s well-being, the landlord visited the apartment on Nov. 4, and then summoned police.
According to Rael, Smith sent a text message recently to his landlord saying that he had been stranded elsewhere because of superstorm Sandy, which hit the northeastern U.S. earlier this month.
Smith’s mother, Denise Lane, told police on Nov. 4 that her son had been in Los Alamos on the previous day to sell real estate. The family has a business there called Dixie Girl Restaurant. Lane expressed no concern about his well-being, Rael said, telling the officer she had spoken with him that day at 2:30 p.m. and saying, “He’s fine.”
Police also spoke with someone they said had been in a relationship with Smith and now lives in San Francisco, but that person didn’t provide information on Smith’s current whereabouts and hadn’t heard from Smith, Rael said, though the person was aware of what happened to the dogs.
Hochman said Smith had recently moved in with a friend. But, according to Rael, he left nice clothes, other possessions and toiletries at his apartment, for which Smith had paid rent through October.
Smith didn’t respond to messages left on his phone or email. Attempts to reach his mother by phone over the past week also have been unsuccessful.
Previously, Smith worked for Barker Realty, but he had been let go because of a “lack of communication” with clients, according to owner David Barker.
“Whatever happened with those dogs is deplorable,” Barker said. “Absolutely nothing I would condone, being the owner of two dogs myself.”
Before joining Barker earlier this year, Jake Smith was with a real estate agency in Los Alamos and prior to that was marketing director for British fashion designer Ted Baker in San Francisco, according to a February column in the New Mexican's real estate guide. The story reported that he was co-owner of the Hill Diner in Los Alamos.
Rael said Monday that he planned to present the evidence he has collected to the district attorney. “I could acquire a warrant,” he said, “but I haven’t met with the prosecutor.”
A misdemeanor offense could apply to a person’s failure to provide an animal with food or water, but doesn’t cover a situation where a dog dies, the officer explained. Said Rael, “I am going to push diligently to have this prosecuted as a felony.”
(santafenewmexican.com - Nov 12, 2012)
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