Sheriff Seeks Justice for Green Acres Dogs

Jessica Burtch
Tue, 09 Sep 2014 22:47:46 -0700
Lifestyle

For all of his antics, you've got to give Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio credit: If he has his way, the owners and caretakers of Green Acres Dog Boarding will be going to jail for a good long while.

After a three-month-long high-profile investigation, Maricopa County Sheriff's Office announced today it is recommending that both felony and misdemeanor animal cruelty charges be brought against Todd and MaLeisia Hughes and Austin and Logan Flake — yes, that's Austin Flake, son of U.S. Sen. Jeff Flake.

Arpaio isn't impressed.
Updated: Tue Sep 09, 2014

For all of his antics, you've got to give Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio credit: If he has his way, the owners and caretakers of Green Acres Dog Boarding will be going to jail for a good long while.

After a three-month-long high-profile investigation, Maricopa County Sheriff's Office announced today it is recommending that both felony and misdemeanor animal cruelty charges be brought against Todd and MaLeisia Hughes and Austin and Logan Flake — yes, that's Austin Flake, son of U.S. Sen. Jeff Flake.

Arpaio isn't impressed.

"No matter who may be involved, we are going to pursue it. It doesn't matter who it is," Arpaio said. "Anybody that violates the animal cruelty laws has a big problem."

Good on you, Joe.

The Hugheses, who own Green Acres Boarding in Gilbert, Ariz., were vacationing in Florida when 23 dogs — under the supervision and care of their daughter and son-in-law — died at their facility. The cause of death is reportedly suffocation and heat exhaustion.

On the night of June 20, 2014, 28 dogs were crammed into a 9x12 room. For all but five of them, that night was their last.

Twenty-eight dogs in the amount of space typically used to describe an area rug, including Maci Lane, a 96-pound Great Pyrenees-Anatolian shepherd, and a pair of Bernese mountain dogs named Carson and Daisy. Who among us would be OK with that?

The Flakes allegedly checked on the dogs at 11 p.m. on June 19. When they returned the next morning, the dogs were in distress and dying.

So what did they do? Not much.

The appropriately named Flakes began spraying the dogs with water hoses and attempting to ice some of them down. They never called 911. Or even a vet. Instead, they began stacking dead bodies in a shed like so much garbage.

Then they began calling customers. Family members. Some received voicemails letting them know their dogs were dead. Others were told their dogs had escaped and a search was ongoing. Everyone was eventually told one of the dogs had chewed through an electrical cord, shutting off the air conditioning to the room. To that, investigators say: Not so fast.

According to KTVK, two electrical and air-flow forensics experts assisted detectives in testing the business owners' theory that a chewed-up wire tripped the breaker.

"We're not so sure that's what happened," Arpaio said in a statement. "Also, these air-flow experts suspect that even if the air conditioning system to that small room was functioning the day these dogs died, the air flow in that size room with so many large dogs inside, it may not have been sufficient to keep those dogs alive."

What we are sure of is that 23 sweet dogs who meant a whole lot to the people who loved them died painfully and unnecessarily in the Arizona heat.

RIP, Snickers and Sandy. Sherman and Koda and Happy. Cloe and Carmen and Cash. Carson and Tonka. Parker and Rosie and Zed. Ellie, Roxie, Francis. Valor and Patrick and Sonny. Remy and Buick. Carson and Daisy. And Maci Lane, of course. Good dogs, all of you. Your people love you. We all love you. But most importantly, right now, Joe Arpaio loves you.