- Kansas, USA -
UPDATE: July 30, 2021
On Wednesday, July 28, THOMAS J. STAGGS (pictured below), pleaded not guilty to 17 misdemeanor counts of animal cruelty at the Lyon County District Court.
The Emporia Gazette reports that STAGGS appeared before Judge Douglas Jones with attorney Michael Glamann.
On May 28, STAGGS was charged with 14 counts of animal cruelty. The state has recently increased the charges to include three additional counts.
As reported by KVOE, Lyon County Attorney Marc Goodman said STAGGS has requested a jury trial, and potential trial dates will be discussed at his next hearing scheduled for August 27.
RHONDA STAGGS (also pictured below) will appear in court for a pretrial hearing on August 2.
~ Original story:
On Wednesday, May 26, Lyon County Sheriff deputies and animal control responded to a residence on 303 E Grand Avenue in Hartford to serve an order issued by the Hartford Municipal Court.
According to a press release by the Lyon County Sheriff’s Office, the order was to take all but five dogs “due to being a nuisance and being part of an unauthorized kennel/or the number of animals allowed in a home.”
Once at the residence, deputies determined the living conditions of the dogs were unacceptable and ultimately search warrants were executed to remove all the dogs from the property.
The sheriff’s office said that a total of seventeen dogs were located and fourteen of them were a Wolf-dog breed.
The nonprofit Guardian Of The Wolves animal rescue has been contracted by the City of Hartford to care for the poor furbabies.
Emporia Vet Hospital Veterinarian Dr. Richard Mendoza assisted deputies at the scene with securing all the dogs.
Deputies arrested the owners of the residence identified as THOMAS STAGGS and his wife RHONDA STAGGS (both pictured below).
Part of a Facebook post by the Guardian Of The Wolves reads: “This was a backyard breeder who also bred rescues and had been under an order to comply since 2019 but never complied.”
Their post continues to read: “When you search for a pup please do your homework, go see the place or do live time videos, ask for references do YOUR due diligence because what happens when we support this ( and many have supported this particular person) we are adding to the problem..
Something like this has cost taxpayers money for 2 years with city officials not to mention what the 11 hours today cost the city, then there's organizations like us that need financial help to actually save these lives, we come to you for help. Do you know how many sanctuaries there are and they are all full?
Do you know that not all cities care about these animals or any animals like this particular city did? Do you know that many times these animals do not get saved ?
Today these lives were saved by some pretty bad ass people, heros and angels.
But my point is please do your homework before thinking about a pup.
Besides what this does to the animals these situations can lead to bans.”
The sheriff’s office said that THOMAS STAGGS “had an outstanding warrant unrelated to this event and charges for animal cruelty will be forwarded to the Lyon County Attorney’s Office for review.”
RHONDA STAGGS was arrested for an unrelated outstanding warrant and animal cruelty.
According to the sheriff’s office formal charges are pending through the Lyon County Attorney’s Office.
Voice For Us Disclaimer: This story is sourced from official news outlets. Links included.
Details may be removed or additional information may be provided in future should such sources report an update.
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