Police are seaching for the owners of 69 dogs found living in filth in a small house on the 300 block of East 33rd Street.
Officers spent more than four hours removing the dogs, mostly small breeds ranging from newborn puppies to mature dogs, and transporting them to the Chatham County Animal Shelter.
Officers responded to a complaint of barking dogs about noon to find the house full of dogs, clutter and waste. In one room the waste had been shoveled in more than a foot thick. No occupants were found and neighbors did not know who supposedly lived there.
One officer received a dog bite while removing the dogs and was treated for the wound.
SCMPD animal control officers will assess the health of the recovered dogs and conduct a follow-up investigation to identify the owner and any charges that may be filed. City of Savannah Property Maintenance was notified of the uninhabitable condition of the house.
Lt. Brenda Boulware of Animal Control said the addition of that many dogs in one day has overwhelmed the facility. She is hoping “foster parents” will help house some of the dogs until they can be adopted.
• Savannah’s ongoing issues with criminal recidivism were highlighted last week when three inmates from a regional transition center stole a purse from a city bus driver.
The inmates, including one serving a 20–year term for voluntary manslaughter and burglary, are each in the process of being returned to prison, but the incident has raised additional concerns for Police Chief Willie Lovett.
Police were called to Broughton and Montgomery streets about 9:30 a.m. where a Chatham Area Transit (CAT) bus driver said her purse had been stolen while she drove. Video on the bus showed three men, including one wearing clothing from the Ga. Dept. of Corrections Coastal Transitional Center on Stiles Avenue, taking the purse and passing it among themselves with and taking items from it.
Charged with theft were Johnny Hamilton, 53, sentenced to 20 years without parole in Chatham County in 1992 for voluntary manslaughter and burglary; Dwight Larkin, 43, convicted in Wilcox County in March 2010 for selling drugs; and Larry Stokes, 44, incarcerated in March in Tattnall County 2004 for drugs.
The transitional center, built in 1940, houses 44 inmates in the process of being paroled. These men had been released for the day in a work release program but had been told no work was available. Instead of returning, they went elsewhere. At least one returned after curfew.
• A 24–year–old Bloomingdale man was transferred from a hospital to jail after stabbing another man who intervened in a confrontation he was having with a woman.
Justin Roger Johns was charged with aggravated assault after he was found bleeding on River Street.
Police called officers from other precincts to help control crowds in City Market after finding Christopher Michael Landry, 27, of Pooler bleeding in the street just after 1 a.m. Each man was transported to Memorial University Medical Center. Landry underwent emergency surgery for serious wounds that were not considered life–threatening. Johns was kept under guard until released and transferred to jail.
