For that reason, he is pushing for the maximum jail sentences possible for two Macedon residents arrested Sunday after nine starving dogs were found in their mobile home. Among the grisly discovery were two dead puppies being eaten by the surviving dogs.
“My position is they can either plead guilty or go to trial. I will be seeking lengthy jail sentences for both,” Healy said Wednesday. “This is really outrageous conduct.”
James Hughes and Eleanor Hughes, of Wayneport Road, were both charged by Macedon police with 11 counts of animal cruelty. They were arraigned in town court and remain in the county jail on $2,500 bail.
James Hughes is a registered sex offender.
Police were called to the Pinewood Trailer Park for the report of a loose dog and ended up finding multiple dogs locked in a mobile home without food, water or ventilation. Due to the hot conditions that day, police said the temperature inside the trailer was more than 100 degrees.
Eleven dogs were inside when police arrived, although two of them were dead. Police said the surviving dogs were emaciated, covered in fleas and forced to live in their own feces and urine.
They were taken to nearby Lollypop Farm, where they continue to be cared for. Working with town police were animal cruelty investigators from the district attorney’s office.
Healy said the couple was living in the mobile home at the time, but not providing food and/or water to the dogs, which were living in extremely unsanitary conditions. He added that some of the dogs were eating furniture as well as the dead puppies.
Also arrested as part of the case was Zachary Anthony, 20, of Macedon. He was charged with obstructing governmental administration and obstructing an animal cruelty investigation.
It is alleged that while police were in their preliminary investigation at the trailer, James Hughes tried to get three of the dogs out of the trailer through a back window, and Anthony helped him and hid two of the animals in his camper in the trailer park. Another dog was hidden inside a plow truck on the property.
Anthony, who Healy called a neighbor/friend of the couple, was also arraigned in town court and remanded to jail on $2,500 bail.
Police said there were also signs that some of the dogs, described as Husky mixed breed, tried to chew their way through a door to get out of the trailer. Healy said by law, the maximum time James and Eleanor Hughes could spend in jail is two years.
“They are misdemeanor charges, although the results are horrendous ... including the cannibalism,” he said. “Although misdemeanors are punishable by up to one year in jail, because there are 11 counts for each the cap is two years in jail.”
(Finger Lake Times - Sept 10, 2015)
No comments:
Post a Comment