GOLD BAR — Brandon Hatch knew his childhood friend liked to be around dogs, lots of dogs, but he was shocked when he stepped into the Gold Bar man’s home earlier this month.
Roughly 160 dogs were living there in what authorities have described in court papers as “deplorable” and abusive conditions.
“When I went into the house you could not walk 12 inches without stepping in a pile of feces or urine,” Hatch, a Web developer from Kettle Falls, said Saturday. “There was no room that was sacred. It was the entire house.”
Some dogs were locked in small crates. Many roamed at will. Even the attic of the single-story home had been converted into a makeshift kennel. So many dogs were in that space that the ceiling shook when they began to bark and howl.
Hatch said he knew children sometimes slept in that home. When he saw their bed, also befouled by the dogs, he called Child Protective Services.
“Right is right. Wrong is wrong. And this is just plain wrong, all of it,” Hatch said.
The phone call touched off a multicounty investigation into what detectives have been told is a multimillion-dollar puppy mill operation, court papers show.
So far, roughly 600 dogs have been seized. Many of them reportedly received just enough care to keep them able to breed more puppies. Groomers have spent days trying to clean the animals’ feces- and urine-matted coats.
Search warrants filed by Snohomish County detectives in the case read like those from a drug investigation.
Even before they arrested the Gold Bar man, 37, for investigation of animal cruelty, detectives had determined who owned the property and their history with police.
Sheriff’s detective Steve Haley confronted the suspect about the paper trail, and how it appeared to connect him to two sisters from Snohomish, both “well known in Snohomish County for operating illegal and unlicensed kennels for the purpose of mass production of puppies for sale,” documents show.
The suspect told Haley he paid his $2,000 monthly mortgage in cash during meetings with Mary Ann Holleman at a Denny’s in Everett, according to court papers.
Although the property records show that Holleman owns the home where the dogs were found, Haley told the man he’s convinced the property is actually owned by her sister, Renee Roske, the suspected leader of the puppy-breeding group.
Roske also is the registered owner of Wags ‘n’ Wiggles, a Snohomish breeding company.
Roske “has openly admitted to myself and other deputies over the years that she is a breeder and that this is her sole source of income,” Haley wrote in a Jan. 17 search warrant affidavit. When the deputy accused the man of being paid by Roske to care for dogs, he “immediately became very emotional and began crying,” Haley wrote.
“He stated that he could be killed for what he was going to tell me. He stated that we were dealing with millions of dollars a year in revenue” for the alleged leader of the group, the deputy wrote.
Reached by phone Monday, Roske said her lawyer advised her not to comment.
The investigation continues both in Snohomish and Skagit counties.
No charges have been filed.
Hatch, 34, said he’s known the Gold Bar man since they were in their teens and both living near Snohomish. The man used to run a landscaping business and often kept dogs as pets, sometimes up to a dozen at a time.
Then Hatch said his friend began talking about making money in the dog business. “He told me, ‘I make more than $2 million a year with my dogs. I’m not giving them up.’”
Child Protective Services followed up on Hatch’s call and on Jan. 16 alerted deputies. Hatch said his friend called to report that he’d come home, spotted an animal control officer outside, and just kept going.
The man was worried about going to prison, Hatch said. So Hatch encouraged the man to go home and deal with the situation.
The man called later to say that animal control officers had left a notice, warning that he was in violation of county codes for kennels. Hatch said the man asked for help finding property in Eastern Washington, a place with a “big garage” where he could bring 500 dogs.
Soon enough, deputies showed up with a search warrant and took the man briefly into custody. There were no children at the Gold Bar home when deputies arrived.
Hatch said he cares about his friend but also feels strongly about animals being cared for properly. He and his wife set up a Web site about the case: puppyjustice.com.
County laws allow up to 25 dogs on a single property with the proper license, Snohomish County Animal Control manager Vicki Lubrin said.
Animal control officers took the dogs to the Everett Animal Shelter, where they remain.
Police also searched the homes of Roske and Holleman. They found suspected drugs at Roske’s and empty dog kennels at Holleman’s, according to court papers.
Officials now believe several dogs may have been moved to a Mount Vernon property belonging to Marjorie Sundberg, Roske and Holleman’s mother. Sheriff’s officials in Skagit County had in the past described Holleman’s breeding operation there as a puppy mill, court documents show.
Last week, Skagit County deputies effectively shut Holleman down. They removed nearly 450 dogs from the Mount Vernon property. Some of the dogs were diagnosed with coccidiosis, a potentially fatal and contagious intestinal disease.
A few of the Snohomish County dogs showed symptoms, Lubrin said. They were tested and found to have a different problem, giardia, a treatable but contagious parasite.
Some media outlets have erroneously reported that nearly four out of five of the rescued dogs are pregnant.
On Monday, officials said fewer than 20 of the 600 dogs likely are expecting puppies.
“About 40 percent of the dogs are male. Another 30 percent are too young to be pregnant,” Skagit County sheriff’s spokesman Will Reichardt said.
Some groups, including Pasado’s Safe Haven of Monroe, have challenged Snohomish County for not enlisting their help caring for the rescued dogs.
The help isn’t needed and the dogs are receiving excellent care, Lubrin said Monday. It’s also important to keep the dogs in one place as investigators continue to develop a possible criminal case, she said.
In Washington, the distinction between legal breeders and criminal operations is not clear, said Dan Paul, the Washington state director of the Humane Society of the United States.
“Those lines are very, very blurry,” he said.
Breeders who sell to pet stores and animal research facilities are licensed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Paul said.
People who sell animals directly to the public are not as tightly regulated.
“That’s a major loophole,” he said.
Paul said he is working with state lawmakers to introduce legislation on puppy mills this year.
The law, if passed, would put a cap on the number of fertile animals owned by a single breeder. It also would introduce minimum care requirements.
The people under investigation in Snohomish County could face dog and cat license violations and felony animal cruelty and kennel licensing law violations, Lubrin said.
Reporter Jackson Holtz: 425-339-3437 or jholtz@heraldnet.com.
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