Latest / Crime Stories with Nancy Grace / Justice for Meko as killer dog groomer faces jury

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Justice for Meko as killer dog groomer faces jury · Crime Stories with Nancy Grace

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Speaker 1: Crime stops here dot com. Goodbye friend, Crime Stories with
1:34
Speaker 1: Nancy Grace. You know there's three year old dog in
1:38
Speaker 1: perfectly good, healthy condition that we dropped off in the
1:42
Speaker 1: morning that is now decease. A coming police spokeswoman tells
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Speaker 1: the eleven Alive. Once they began investigating Miko's death in October,
1:49
Speaker 1: they received even more complaints against Route that led to
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Speaker 1: another investigation than in the Grand Juri's indictment. As second charge,
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Speaker 1: Route allegedly caused physical harm to a dog named Little Boy,
1:59
Speaker 1: which led to his spleen rupturing. Miko was sweet, just compete.
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Speaker 1: He would sleep on my pillow every night. Evidence and
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Speaker 1: details now being released in the trial of a well
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Speaker 1: respected pet groomer. But what happened to the pet? I
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Speaker 1: Nancy Grace, this is Crime Stories. Thank you for being
2:19
Speaker 1: with us. The most vulnerable in our society, tortured, mistreated,
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Speaker 1: actually dead. Right now, a jury is hearing evidence in
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Speaker 1: the trial of Michelle Louise Root, a dog room or
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Speaker 1: a well respected dog rumor, who has been charged with
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Speaker 1: two counts of animal cruelty. Straight out to our friend,
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Speaker 1: Jane Les Mitchell, founder of Jane un Chained dot com
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Speaker 1: Jane in a nutshell, what happened to Miko? Well, Um,
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Speaker 1: Miko was being groomed and witnesses told police they saw
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Speaker 1: Miko be choked, kicked in the head, bounced off the
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Speaker 1: wall October seven during this grooming session. And what happened
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Speaker 1: was when the man who was friends of the dog's
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Speaker 1: owner came to pick the dog up. Um, they said allegedly, Oh,
3:17
Speaker 1: he must have had a seizure. And another thing that
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Speaker 1: he was told was, oh, he's just really relaxed. Indeed,
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Speaker 1: they were grooming a dead dog on the table. And
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Speaker 1: the woman who runs this facility is now in court
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Speaker 1: because she's the one who allegedly did commit all this
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Speaker 1: violence from this jevlist. Just hold on just a moment, guys.
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Speaker 1: I just gotta take him what she's saying, grooming a
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Speaker 1: dead dog. I've gotta tell you, guys. First, let me
3:45
Speaker 1: introduce my guests. I got carried away about maka j
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Speaker 1: ls mischie with me my longtime colleague colleague Jane on
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Speaker 1: chain dot com. Alan Dieck of course joined me from
3:54
Speaker 1: l a longtime colleague, attorney Claudine Wilkins, animal law expert,
4:00
Speaker 1: founder of Animal Law source dot org. Veterans trial lawyer
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Speaker 1: Penny Douglas fur of the Atlanta Jurisdiction. Eric Francis, a
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Speaker 1: witness in this case and founder of Justice from Miko
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Speaker 1: dot com Justice for the Number four Miko dot com
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Speaker 1: to you, Eric Francis, I'm I'm just reeling and this
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Speaker 1: is so significant. I just wanted to tell you recently,
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Speaker 1: we are a house full of pets here. We've got
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Speaker 1: a rescue dog, fat Boy. He was billed as a
4:32
Speaker 1: thoroughbred dockson. He's so not. He's the thoroughbred muck, but
4:36
Speaker 1: he's got the heart of a lion. We have the
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Speaker 1: rescue cat Cinnamon, and we have now to rescue guineas.
4:44
Speaker 1: I mean, I didn't even know they existed from oak
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Speaker 1: Khurst Guinea Pig Rescue. Yes, Abby and Chloe who run
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Speaker 1: my life. The other day, I was with the twins
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Speaker 1: and we were at um I guess pet smarter, you
4:57
Speaker 1: know one of the chains, and I saw a dog
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Speaker 1: getting groom and they had a collar around the dog's
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Speaker 1: neck attached to like a chain or something tethered so
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Speaker 1: the dog couldn't move while it was being shaved. And
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Speaker 1: all three of us stood there and went that doesn't
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Speaker 1: look right, but I know that that is an accepted
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Speaker 1: method of grooming, so the dog doesn't like bite you
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Speaker 1: or run away get cut. I don't understand what happened
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Speaker 1: to Miko. Is it Miko or Mika? It's uh, it's
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Speaker 1: Miko mm Ko. And I just need to let you
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Speaker 1: know that the owner of Miko just stepped out of
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Speaker 1: the courtroom and was was bringing my ear about what's
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Speaker 1: going on. So the trial is actively happening as we speak.
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Speaker 1: Eric Francis, tell me what happened, so make it as
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Speaker 1: concise as I can. Uh. The owner asked me to
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Speaker 1: pick up her dog. When I arrived, Miko was laying
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Speaker 1: on the table. One of Michelle's groomors was grooming the dog,
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Speaker 1: who after I walked over to him, I discovered that
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Speaker 1: he was dead or he was in the it's the dying.
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Speaker 1: We rushed into the hospital the emergency vet. He was
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Speaker 1: pronounced dead. We didn't know anything had happened until about
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Speaker 1: fifteen minutes later. We got a call from the coming
6:13
Speaker 1: police department saying that they needed us to come to
6:16
Speaker 1: the police department, that they had had a witness come
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Speaker 1: forward with a statement saying that they had witnessed the
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Speaker 1: alleged Michelle Root abusing the dog and actually killing him
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Speaker 1: in the shop. I don't I don't get it. I
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Speaker 1: just I don't understand. To Claudine Wilkins joining me, animal
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Speaker 1: law expert, founder of Animal law source dot org, Claudine,
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Speaker 1: you're a very well respected lawyer and you've devoted your
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Speaker 1: life to saving animals. I don't understand why somebody would
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Speaker 1: have a grooming business. This one was called the pause
6:51
Speaker 1: p a w apostrophe s h poush pause in coming
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Speaker 1: now arrested, now on trial. Why would you even have
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Speaker 1: a business if you don't like animals. We see this
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Speaker 1: a lot, Nancy, unfortunately. I mean we we see a
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Speaker 1: lot of victims of child molestation in the setting where
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Speaker 1: um people are teachers and and and it's it's beyond understanding.
7:15
Speaker 1: But keep in mind this this person has also been
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Speaker 1: charged for the similar event just a year before, so
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Speaker 1: this is a pattern here. And not knowing anything about
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Speaker 1: the defendant, she's obviously taking out her aggressions on her
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Speaker 1: very own, voiceless clients, and somebody has to do something
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Speaker 1: about it. I would have liked to have seen someone
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Speaker 1: arrest her back in two thousand and sixteen when Little Boy,
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Speaker 1: the dog that was also killed, uh ruptured spleen and
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Speaker 1: and so on. I mean, these these reports go back
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Speaker 1: to two thousand when she worked at Pet Smart as
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Speaker 1: a groomer there. So we see a lot of this
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Speaker 1: happening because the victim can't speak and they know if
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Speaker 1: they get, you know, get away with it, they keep
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Speaker 1: continuing to do it. It's repetitive behavior. There's something going wrong. Well, Frankly, Claudine,
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Speaker 1: I really think there's something wrong with them in the mind.
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Speaker 1: If these allegations are true. Guys, this has gone to
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Speaker 1: a full on jury trial. Five women nine men in
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Speaker 1: the jury were sworn in by Superior Court Judge David
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Speaker 1: Dickinson to take a listen to the evidence, and I
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Speaker 1: was listening as the district attorney the a d A.
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Speaker 1: Michael Mahoney, and his opening statements was talking about trust,
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Speaker 1: that that is what allows us to take our pets
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Speaker 1: to a groomer. We trust the dog will be cared for,
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Speaker 1: that they will be treated safely, respectfully. We trust it
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Speaker 1: won't be beaten, kicked, brutalized, choked, And that's what people
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Speaker 1: expected from this woman. But according to the prosecutor to employees.
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Speaker 1: These are not just bystanders, these are employees. Come forward
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Speaker 1: and state that this woman Root dragged a dog named
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Speaker 1: Echo through the halls of the store, slamming into walls,
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Speaker 1: kicking and choking it until it died. She got the
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Speaker 1: dog out front and then put it on the table,
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Speaker 1: hung it up too high for its pause. I guess
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Speaker 1: in that manner I was describing that I saw at
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Speaker 1: one of the chains and the dog choked. It choked
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Speaker 1: to death. To Eric Francis, a witness in this case, Ah,
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Speaker 1: he is telling us today about justice from Miko dot com. Eric,
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Speaker 1: what's your understanding of how Miko died? Exactly? My understanding
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Speaker 1: from the nerdcropsy report is that he had bruises around
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Speaker 1: his neck. He had multiple hematomas or ruptures of blood
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Speaker 1: vessels through his body. I actually had to step out
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Speaker 1: while the u D a U professor that was giving
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Speaker 1: the report on the nercropsy, to take the phone call
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Speaker 1: and actually speak with you. So I'm not exactly I
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Speaker 1: read the necropsy report, but it's very hard to get
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Speaker 1: through because from what I read as a novice medical person,
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Speaker 1: and I look at the evidence from the description of
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Speaker 1: what happens. It pretty much matches up. But the reason
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Speaker 1: that little Boy was the case for a Little Boy
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Speaker 1: was brought was because of the evidence that we brought
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Speaker 1: forward and made public with through Justice for Miko, and
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Speaker 1: then people started connecting the dot. One of the biggest
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Speaker 1: challenges is that the punishment for animal abuse is so little.
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Speaker 1: We need to make it stronger. We need to make
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Speaker 1: the the punishment strong. Well, stop right there, stop right here,
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Speaker 1: plays Eric Eric Francis with me used to the name
10:45
Speaker 1: little Boy. Who's little Boy? I'm sorry the dog prior
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Speaker 1: a year prior that had been killed that with two
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Speaker 1: felony counts. Okay, I need you here, I need to
11:00
Speaker 1: hear the whole thing start at the beginning. Um. I
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Speaker 1: got the story of Miko from Jane Les Mitchell. But
11:07
Speaker 1: could you explain to me how the whole thing started,
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Speaker 1: Eric Francis, So there's not just one dead dog. How
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Speaker 1: many are there felony animal abuse charges against her? One
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Speaker 1: is for Miko and the other one is for a
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Speaker 1: dog that had happened one year earlier called little Boy.
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Speaker 1: Is a well respected dog groom or a female dog
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Speaker 1: groomer who ran the business Pause Pause now on trial
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Speaker 1: for two felony counts. How many dogs are dead? We
11:42
Speaker 1: first heard about it here at Crime Stories when we
11:45
Speaker 1: found out about justice from Miko dot com. But now
11:49
Speaker 1: we're learning there are more dead dogs right now. Back
11:53
Speaker 1: to Eric Francis, a witness in the case that is
11:55
Speaker 1: happening right now in a felony courtroom. Eric, how many
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Speaker 1: dogs allegedly died at the hands of this dog. I
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Speaker 1: didn't even want to say groomer, because if this is true,
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Speaker 1: she's diabolical. How many dogs are dead? Eric? Well? The
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Speaker 1: ForSight County Police Department charged her with two counts of
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Speaker 1: felony animal abuse, one for our dog, Miko, and another
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Speaker 1: for a dog approximately a year earlier named little Boy. Okay,
12:25
Speaker 1: who is the little boy? And how did that happen?
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Speaker 1: Same way? Grooming little Boy? From the testimony that I
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Speaker 1: heard in the courtroom, little Boy was dropped off to
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Speaker 1: be groomed and uh in in perfectly healthy condition. At
12:41
Speaker 1: some point the owner of Posh Pause called the owner
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Speaker 1: of Little Boy and said, this dog has bruises all
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Speaker 1: over him and he's lethargic. They rushed over to get him.
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Speaker 1: They rushed him to two different hospitals in which they
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Speaker 1: found out that he had bruises all over his body.
13:01
Speaker 1: I believe it was a broken rib, a ruptured spleen,
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Speaker 1: and he was euthanized because of the rupture in his spleen.
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Speaker 1: The owner didn't want him to go through any more.
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Speaker 1: Uh suffering. How do you drop your dog off just
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Speaker 1: to get groomed and it ends up with broken ribs
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Speaker 1: and ruptured spleen. My fellow dog lover joining me right now,
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Speaker 1: long time in veteran trial lawyer Penny Douglas fur who.
13:30
Speaker 1: The first time I was ever in Penny's house, Uh,
13:33
Speaker 1: let me just say I was greeted at the front
13:35
Speaker 1: door by about five rottweilers running. Let me just say
13:40
Speaker 1: wild through her house. She doesn't think so they sleep
13:43
Speaker 1: in the bed, They get treats of peanut butter bombs.
13:47
Speaker 1: I mean, they get treated better than most people get treated.
13:50
Speaker 1: That's when I found out her deep love for animals.
13:53
Speaker 1: Then I found out she has pro bono for free
13:57
Speaker 1: handled so many animal cases. She's turned into an expert. Penny,
14:02
Speaker 1: you know, I'm so worried about Fat Boy and Cinnamon.
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Speaker 1: Do you know we washed them and bathe them and
14:08
Speaker 1: take care of them ourselves that I mean, if I
14:11
Speaker 1: have to go on a vacation with the twins, I
14:15
Speaker 1: used to board them. Now I have somebody come in
14:18
Speaker 1: and feed them and take care of them because I'm
14:20
Speaker 1: so worried. My husband says, we spend more money having
14:24
Speaker 1: the animals taking care of than we spend on our vacation.
14:28
Speaker 1: He said, the main cost of our vacations is taking
14:32
Speaker 1: care of the animals. But this is not the first time.
14:35
Speaker 1: Needs We were called a few years ago on another
14:38
Speaker 1: case where a dog was killed by a groomer, and
14:42
Speaker 1: I don't think it was intentional. They just had that
14:45
Speaker 1: dog with the thing around his neck, the leash around
14:48
Speaker 1: his neck. They walked off and left him. He tried
14:51
Speaker 1: to jump off the table and it strangled him to
14:53
Speaker 1: do Wait a minute, Penny, I can only compare this
14:56
Speaker 1: too when I would change the twins die piece or
15:00
Speaker 1: put them on a changing table. I mean, there's a
15:03
Speaker 1: little fence, a fence, a wall, a barrier so they
15:07
Speaker 1: can't roll off for Pete's sakes, Well, they don't have that.
15:10
Speaker 1: I don't that I know of. With dog rumors, and
15:12
Speaker 1: I remember these people wanted to file a civil suit.
15:16
Speaker 1: The problem is Nancy that in Georgia at least, and
15:19
Speaker 1: in some other states also, animals are considered property, so
15:25
Speaker 1: if it's a mixed breed or a rescue, they don't
15:27
Speaker 1: consider it worth more than say forty or fifty dollars.
15:32
Speaker 1: Oh my star. A civil suit they get fifty dollars.
15:36
Speaker 1: So we've got to do something to change the value.
15:39
Speaker 1: We've had a case already go to the Supreme Court
15:42
Speaker 1: of Georgia and they found that yes, you can get
15:45
Speaker 1: your vet bills back, but if your dog's dead, there's
15:49
Speaker 1: no vet bills, and we have to other than just
15:54
Speaker 1: as property. Well, I want to also go to Jane
15:57
Speaker 1: Villis Mitchell, founder of Jane Unchained dot com and champions
16:01
Speaker 1: animals rights. I mean, Jane, if this were a person
16:05
Speaker 1: with broken ribs and a ruptured spleen and they die
16:08
Speaker 1: that way, then we find out that this was not
16:11
Speaker 1: the first time incident. Reports had been filed with the
16:15
Speaker 1: local police department in coming alleging that during the incident,
16:19
Speaker 1: she Michelle Route, caused the death of Miko by kicking
16:23
Speaker 1: him and choking the dog with a lead. And then
16:27
Speaker 1: we find out there was another incident where the dogs
16:30
Speaker 1: spleen was ruptured. What I wonder is how many other
16:34
Speaker 1: dogs have died at her hands, Nancy. People are coming
16:38
Speaker 1: out of the woodwork calling law enforcement. They said, Hey,
16:41
Speaker 1: if anybody has had a similar experience, and people are
16:45
Speaker 1: just calling and calling, this could go back decades. They
16:49
Speaker 1: are reportedly protesting outside the store where all of this
16:53
Speaker 1: allegedly happened. And this is a very common, common, tragic story,
16:58
Speaker 1: and your other guests is absolutely right. It will continue
17:02
Speaker 1: as long as animals are considered mirror property. That's why
17:06
Speaker 1: there's a whole move an actual organization called the Non
17:09
Speaker 1: Human Rights Project that is fighting in court to have
17:13
Speaker 1: animals considered non human persons. Once they get personhood, they
17:18
Speaker 1: have more rights. Joining me, uh, Eric Francis, who witnessed
17:22
Speaker 1: in the case, Eric, Ever since Justice for Miko was started,
17:26
Speaker 1: you can log on I'm looking at it right now,
17:28
Speaker 1: Justice for the Number four m e Ko dot com.
17:33
Speaker 1: Ever since that came out and proponents including you, of
17:37
Speaker 1: Miko's law, asking to change the law happened, people are
17:42
Speaker 1: coming out of the woodwork. Just like Jane Las said,
17:45
Speaker 1: multiple calls coming in from other potential victims that go
17:49
Speaker 1: all the way back to the early two thousands. Are
17:53
Speaker 1: all of these allegations against the same person, Michelle Louise Roots. Well,
17:57
Speaker 1: from what I saw yesterday from the two police officer
18:00
Speaker 1: is when they walked in, they each had about a
18:02
Speaker 1: four inch file that they were going through, so eight
18:06
Speaker 1: inches of of testimony that they had to go through.
18:11
Speaker 1: UM a lot of this, like I said, is once
18:14
Speaker 1: you start connecting the dots, people really started wondering, you know,
18:18
Speaker 1: why was it that, Why was it that I had
18:21
Speaker 1: to take my dog to the vet right after I
18:23
Speaker 1: picked him up from her? Or there were other instances
18:26
Speaker 1: of not necessarily death, but cuts, bruises, things that they
18:32
Speaker 1: really couldn't figure out how it happened. And I understand
18:36
Speaker 1: from talking to groomers that you know, nicking a dog
18:39
Speaker 1: or a cat or or an animal while you're grooming
18:42
Speaker 1: them can happen, But it's all in what you do
18:44
Speaker 1: after the fact. It's the follow up how do you
18:47
Speaker 1: handle it? Uh. You can look at situations that are
18:50
Speaker 1: going with some of the big box retailers now that
18:53
Speaker 1: have had forty eight deaths across the nation from one
18:57
Speaker 1: of the pet places that's a big box grooming facility.
19:02
Speaker 1: When you're saying big box grooming, what are you talking about? Exactly.
19:07
Speaker 1: The pet smart places like yeah, like the chains, yeah,
19:11
Speaker 1: the chains and what what what about the chains? Well,
19:15
Speaker 1: it's just it's troubling that they you know, that they
19:19
Speaker 1: allow that they allow the stuff to go on. The
19:23
Speaker 1: trial is happening right now. Claudine Wilkins, who worked with
19:27
Speaker 1: me in the Fulton County District Attorney's office, That's how
19:30
Speaker 1: I first met her, now the proponent with an animal
19:35
Speaker 1: law expert with animal law source dot org. Here's the thing.
19:38
Speaker 1: Remember when we would put together felony trials, Claudine and
19:43
Speaker 1: I would go and speak with each witness and assess
19:47
Speaker 1: their credibility on the stand. If you look at this woman, Claudine,
19:51
Speaker 1: and this this is gonna be a problem for the state.
19:53
Speaker 1: She looks like a soccer mom. She's got the long
19:56
Speaker 1: frosted hair. I mean, she's all preppied out. She looks
20:02
Speaker 1: like who you would see in some private school drop
20:05
Speaker 1: offline dropping off her soccer kids. And when people see
20:10
Speaker 1: someone like that, Claudine, it's hard for them to merge
20:15
Speaker 1: what they're seeing with the cold hard facts from the
20:18
Speaker 1: stand about kicking and beating and choking a helpless dog
20:22
Speaker 1: on purpose. That's a problem for the state, Claudine, it is.
20:26
Speaker 1: It is a problem. Now her mug shot, I would say,
20:28
Speaker 1: doesn't reflect too much of that, but I would say this,
20:32
Speaker 1: she obviously has something disturbing going on, and these poor
20:36
Speaker 1: voiceless animals were her whipping post. And I think Miko's
20:40
Speaker 1: justice comes from the fact that witnesses got to see it.
20:43
Speaker 1: Imagine if there's more and no one got to see it,
20:46
Speaker 1: we will never hear about those cases. But she's been
20:49
Speaker 1: a groomer according to the reports since two thousands. Um.
20:53
Speaker 1: I believe there's probably more out there, but you know,
20:57
Speaker 1: we'll see and I can tell you that finally and
21:00
Speaker 1: where to our laws changed to include felony, and we
21:03
Speaker 1: were one of the last states to get felonies, and
21:06
Speaker 1: we revamped our laws just recently because you could literally
21:09
Speaker 1: torture an animal for as long as you had the animal,
21:13
Speaker 1: but if you did not mayment, disfigure it or kill it,
21:17
Speaker 1: you would never be charged as a phone. But that's
21:20
Speaker 1: changed since two thousand fourteen. And she's looking at some
21:23
Speaker 1: serious time here. And I you know, this case has
21:26
Speaker 1: gotten some notoriety, which is great, but we I get
21:29
Speaker 1: cases every day. Just yesterday, a horse was stabbed with
21:32
Speaker 1: a stick, and they're wondering if they should charge as
21:35
Speaker 1: a felony, And the answer is absolutely, of course yes.
21:39
Speaker 1: I was reading the other about two or three days
21:43
Speaker 1: ago actually, where a man had sex assaulted a dog
21:49
Speaker 1: over and over and over until the dog became so
21:54
Speaker 1: hostile they euthanized the dogs they could not rehabilitate the
21:59
Speaker 1: dog anymore. If that guy does not go to jail
22:04
Speaker 1: for at least twenty years, I'm just gonna I'm gonna
22:07
Speaker 1: lead a protest. And now, in this case, investigators searching
22:11
Speaker 1: Michelle Louise Roots business and residents after police receive reports
22:15
Speaker 1: of other possible pet victims going all the way back
22:19
Speaker 1: to the early two thousand. The first set of charges
22:23
Speaker 1: and claims began when Root allegedly brutally kicks, drags, and
22:29
Speaker 1: chokes a customer's dog that later died in an animal hospital.
22:34
Speaker 1: And I'm getting that from a police report. Justice from
22:38
Speaker 1: Miko dot com. The trial is happening now to you, Claudine.
22:44
Speaker 1: If the If she's found guilty and the judge sentences
22:48
Speaker 1: her consecutively, in other words, one sentence following the next,
22:52
Speaker 1: not running concurrently at the same time, how much time
22:56
Speaker 1: can root do behind bars for a first defense felony,
22:59
Speaker 1: she's king up up to five years. For the second
23:02
Speaker 1: offense up to ten years, and those could be consecutive,
23:05
Speaker 1: so fifteen. The trial goes on as more claims pour
23:11
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Speaker 1: do apply. Crime stories with Nancy Grace the Tillary County
25:24
Speaker 1: Sheriff's offices. These two men, Angel Valencia, and his nephew,
25:28
Speaker 1: eighteen year old Carlos Rivera, killed their own dogs at
25:31
Speaker 1: a property near a Rosy The reason. Authorities say they
25:34
Speaker 1: believe the dogs, a German shepherd mix and a husky,
25:37
Speaker 1: killed their baby pigs. When deputy showed up, they found
25:40
Speaker 1: the two dead dogs and the two suspects, their clothes
25:44
Speaker 1: stained with blood as we wait for a verdict in
25:47
Speaker 1: the trial of a female pet groomer now charged with
25:50
Speaker 1: two counts, including dead pets she was grooming. We now
25:55
Speaker 1: go across the country and alleged dog killers. More are
26:00
Speaker 1: dog killers charged with animal cruelty. Two men have been
26:04
Speaker 1: arrested for hanging dogs, hanging dogs. Who would want to
26:09
Speaker 1: even do that? Hanging dogs and beating them to death
26:13
Speaker 1: with sticks according to the t Larry County Sheriff. And
26:17
Speaker 1: joining me right now is the to Larry County Sheriff,
26:19
Speaker 1: Sheriff of Michael Bougereau. What an honor to have you
26:22
Speaker 1: on in a cause that is very dear to my heart.
26:25
Speaker 1: You know I've been telling pet stories the whole time
26:28
Speaker 1: we've been on the air, but I gotta tell you
26:31
Speaker 1: one more, and this is about a cat and um
26:34
Speaker 1: Claudine Wilkins with me, Penny Douglas for with me, Alan
26:39
Speaker 1: Duke with me, and James les Mitchell. Most of you
26:41
Speaker 1: know of Coco and Penny. You actually helped me search
26:45
Speaker 1: for Coco and it almost caused me a split with
26:49
Speaker 1: my now husband when Coco went missing on his watch
26:52
Speaker 1: and I was out of town in d C doing
26:54
Speaker 1: Larry King, Penny Douglas fur and I still have the posters, Penny, uh,
27:00
Speaker 1: we put up all over the neighborhood. I told David
27:02
Speaker 1: if he didn't that cat was not found, we were
27:05
Speaker 1: splitting up. That was it because he had Coco. Coco
27:09
Speaker 1: went missing on his watch. It was his fault, Penny.
27:11
Speaker 1: It's not funny. I mean I could hardly. I could
27:14
Speaker 1: hardly get on the air that and I was filling
27:15
Speaker 1: in for Larry King, and all I could think about
27:18
Speaker 1: was and the cat. Um David's nephew, and I'll let
27:23
Speaker 1: him be nameless. Slammed the cat's tail in the door
27:26
Speaker 1: at a Christmas party one time in the screen door,
27:29
Speaker 1: but the till had to be amputated. And I still
27:31
Speaker 1: have the poster that says solid black cat, green eyes,
27:35
Speaker 1: no tel five dollar reward. Well we found the cat.
27:39
Speaker 1: The cat uh my beloved Cocoa. And I was not
27:42
Speaker 1: a cat person at all. In fact, I was highly allergic.
27:45
Speaker 1: But he kept coming to David's door in midtown Atlanta,
27:48
Speaker 1: begging from milk, and I would feed the cat feed.
27:51
Speaker 1: Finally I fell in love and I just took him
27:53
Speaker 1: and um he became my love and he stayed with
27:58
Speaker 1: me for eighteen years and throughout my pregnancy he would
28:02
Speaker 1: keep me going. And right after the twins were born,
28:06
Speaker 1: he went to heaven and let me just say, obviously
28:10
Speaker 1: became a cat person. You know, pets means so much
28:14
Speaker 1: to people, and to think, oh, Sheriff, sorry, to think
28:19
Speaker 1: that somebody can do this to a pet, It just
28:23
Speaker 1: hurts me so badly. Sheriff. I'm gonna have to let
28:25
Speaker 1: you tell the facts of this case as you know them,
28:28
Speaker 1: because they're just horrible. You bet. It's just really shocking
28:31
Speaker 1: to the census. And we're in central California. We're right
28:34
Speaker 1: in the middle of California. We produce a great deal
28:37
Speaker 1: of agriculture for the nation. We love our animals here.
28:41
Speaker 1: In this case, as was truly shocking to the senses.
28:44
Speaker 1: Even when it hit our local media that was people
28:47
Speaker 1: just outraged and rightfully. So what happened is is we
28:50
Speaker 1: had two neighbors. They were in dispute with each other.
28:54
Speaker 1: Um there was some allegations of you know, some harmed
28:58
Speaker 1: animals and such. So these two suspects in this case,
29:02
Speaker 1: Angel Perez Valentia and Carlos Rivera, they decided to take
29:06
Speaker 1: the neighbors dogs and they hanged them by the next,
29:10
Speaker 1: one by one up in a tree like an old
29:12
Speaker 1: Western movie. Truly disgusting. Uh. The animals were flailing about,
29:19
Speaker 1: gasping for airs. They hung by the neck, and that
29:21
Speaker 1: just to make it, to make it even worse, what
29:24
Speaker 1: they began to do is both of the men began
29:26
Speaker 1: beating the dogs with sticks like a pinata until they
29:31
Speaker 1: were dead. There was it gruesome, to say the least,
29:35
Speaker 1: and they did it one by one, all of this
29:37
Speaker 1: being on video as neighbors began videwing from cell phones
29:41
Speaker 1: and such in modern day as do things. As you
29:43
Speaker 1: could imagine, one of the ladies described that she could
29:46
Speaker 1: no longer even video from her kitchen window. She had
29:50
Speaker 1: to close the drapes because she was becoming a nauseous
29:54
Speaker 1: just from the actions that was taking place. Way did
29:56
Speaker 1: anybody call nine one one share? Did anybody call nine
30:00
Speaker 1: and one while this was happening? Initially know the woman
30:03
Speaker 1: who pulled the drape's clothes, She was just so disgusted
30:06
Speaker 1: and she she she felt sick. But fortunately another neighbor
30:09
Speaker 1: of filming they did in fact call um and we respond.
30:13
Speaker 1: By the time we get there, both dogs had had
30:16
Speaker 1: already been killed, but we had to search for the dogs.
30:18
Speaker 1: But it was almost like a homicide scene because there
30:21
Speaker 1: was a tremendous amount of blood everywhere. We did find
30:25
Speaker 1: one suspect right away. It was blood all over his clothing.
30:29
Speaker 1: It was pretty gruesome. In one of the cases, the dog,
30:33
Speaker 1: it just was not dying as it was hanging from
30:37
Speaker 1: its noose um and what took place next is is
30:41
Speaker 1: almost unbearable to even speak of. But they took pruning
30:45
Speaker 1: shears to the neck trying to completely decapitate the animal.
30:50
Speaker 1: We came in, we had animal control come in. We
30:53
Speaker 1: made two felony arrests here in California. It's a felony. Uh.
30:57
Speaker 1: They're facing very serious jail time and reference of this.
31:00
Speaker 1: And right now they sit in my county jail with me.
31:02
Speaker 1: Right now is a very special guest who is joining
31:05
Speaker 1: us on these horrific animal cruelty cases. Sheriff Michael Boudreau
31:10
Speaker 1: and Hilarry County Sheriff. From my understanding, it was about
31:14
Speaker 1: eight pm when your deputies were called to an address
31:18
Speaker 1: off on in Rosy regarding animal cruelty. They found two
31:23
Speaker 1: dead dogs, a beautiful German shepherd and an Alaskan husky.
31:30
Speaker 1: I slowed down in Alaska husky because my dog is,
31:35
Speaker 1: as I've said, a mix. We were told supure breed
31:39
Speaker 1: docks and I don't know what fat boy is. I
31:42
Speaker 1: think he's part docks and part Doberman. I I'm not
31:45
Speaker 1: sure really what he is. But my daughter, when she
31:49
Speaker 1: first dreamed of a dog, wanted an Alaska husky, and
31:52
Speaker 1: she even has t shirts with huskies on them. Um,
31:57
Speaker 1: they're They're so beautiful with the beautiful blue eyes. And
32:02
Speaker 1: I've never seen animals quite like a husky. And Um,
32:07
Speaker 1: we grew up with our neighbors and relatives having German
32:10
Speaker 1: Shepherd dogs that were so loyal and so loving. To
32:15
Speaker 1: think of these dogs being hung up and beaten like
32:21
Speaker 1: a pinata, I mean, Sheriff Boudreau, Who are these guys?
32:28
Speaker 1: Are they? Why would they do this? Well? You know
32:32
Speaker 1: that that truly was a difficult question for all of
32:35
Speaker 1: us to ask. Um. You know, here in California, we're
32:39
Speaker 1: actually not able to ask um, you know, where you're from,
32:42
Speaker 1: our immigration status or or any of that nature, So
32:46
Speaker 1: we're not even able to dove into that. But they
32:48
Speaker 1: did make comments that from where they're from. This is
32:52
Speaker 1: how things are done. Whit whit whit. Wait wait wait wait,
32:55
Speaker 1: wait wait a minute, now, listen to me. Crime is
32:59
Speaker 1: a political Never take a position on crime. I'm not
33:02
Speaker 1: a Republican, I'm not a Democrat, and frankly, I don't
33:05
Speaker 1: like either party. I think all politicians lie. And I've
33:09
Speaker 1: always shied away from anything close to politics because I'd
33:13
Speaker 1: rather try a serial killer than deal with politics. That's
33:17
Speaker 1: how I feel about it. But I hear what you're saying. See,
33:20
Speaker 1: I don't have those restrictions. I can just tell the
33:22
Speaker 1: truth is I know it. What I think I'm hearing
33:25
Speaker 1: is that these two are illegal immigrants. That is neither
33:28
Speaker 1: here nor there. But I wonder if what they're saying is, hey,
33:34
Speaker 1: this is okay where we come from. What are they
33:36
Speaker 1: trying to say they didn't know this was wrong to
33:39
Speaker 1: hang a pet and beat it like a pinata. Seriously,
33:44
Speaker 1: that's their defense. Oh, Penny Douglas, fur Okay, you're the
33:49
Speaker 1: animal expert lawyer, but you're also a defense attorney. Fat
33:52
Speaker 1: chance that working on it with a jury, I didn't
33:55
Speaker 1: know it was wrong. You know, we we don't. We
34:01
Speaker 1: don't get into that at all either. You know, we
34:03
Speaker 1: don't get into the politics of it all. We want
34:05
Speaker 1: fair guesses for everyone, no matter where you're from. But
34:08
Speaker 1: the point being is back to your original statement, is
34:11
Speaker 1: you know, I think that was their defense. They knew
34:14
Speaker 1: it was wrong. Um, you know they when one guy
34:17
Speaker 1: is hiding behind cars from us that, you know, his defense, Uh,
34:21
Speaker 1: does not hold water at all. They knew what they
34:24
Speaker 1: were doing was wrong. The entire neighborhood knew what they
34:26
Speaker 1: were doing was wrong. And uh, you know, they just
34:29
Speaker 1: tried to give a good defense. But that's not gonna
34:32
Speaker 1: work now. And this is not about where they're from,
34:34
Speaker 1: or who they are or their nationality. You know what,
34:38
Speaker 1: Letty Justice is blind and I feel the same way
34:41
Speaker 1: as Letty Justice. I don't care who you are or
34:43
Speaker 1: where you're from. You do something like this, you're going
34:47
Speaker 1: to jail. Now. They're trying to claim that these two
34:50
Speaker 1: dogs had attacked some baby pigs. Is that true? I
34:55
Speaker 1: don't know. Yeah, that's some of the argument they're trying
34:57
Speaker 1: to put out there, but there's no proof of that. Um,
35:01
Speaker 1: there's no evidence to support what they're saying. We did
35:03
Speaker 1: find some pigs that were that were dead along a
35:07
Speaker 1: Canal Bank several hundred yards away from the crime scene. Um.
35:12
Speaker 1: But again, I think back to the two points. They're
35:14
Speaker 1: trying to develop their defense in this case. And you know,
35:18
Speaker 1: if if you saw the pictures, Nancy, they're so gruesome,
35:21
Speaker 1: there's nothing that would justify the actions of people. Also,
35:24
Speaker 1: we are learning through forensics that they apparently dragged the
35:28
Speaker 1: dogs by the ropes before they hung them, then beat
35:34
Speaker 1: them dead like they were pinatas. Um. I'm trying to
35:40
Speaker 1: get my mind wrapped around this. To Jane Villez Mitchell,
35:44
Speaker 1: founder of Jane unchained dot com that champions animals rights
35:48
Speaker 1: around the world, Jane weigh in, well, Um, I will
35:53
Speaker 1: say that often people become callous. I don't know what
35:58
Speaker 1: these men did for a living. It's possible they might
36:01
Speaker 1: have worked in the farm industry there, because in farming
36:05
Speaker 1: there are routine cruelties that are not even illegal. They
36:07
Speaker 1: castraight animals without anesthesia. They cut off their tails. It's
36:11
Speaker 1: called tail docking. So there's all sorts of tortures that
36:14
Speaker 1: are happening every day to billions of animals right here
36:18
Speaker 1: in the United States that are extraordinarily gruesome, and the
36:21
Speaker 1: people who work in that industry often become you know,
36:24
Speaker 1: callous to it. It's it's sort of the way. It's
36:27
Speaker 1: just the way business is done. And that's something we
36:30
Speaker 1: all have to wake up to. UM. And so when
36:34
Speaker 1: we talk about cultural um attitudes towards animals, Americans are
36:39
Speaker 1: decent people, but what happens where they can't see is
36:44
Speaker 1: unbelievably horrific. And we only catch these cases because they
36:48
Speaker 1: involve dogs and cats. But most animals in America are
36:52
Speaker 1: not dogs and cats. There are cows and pigs and
36:54
Speaker 1: chickens and turkeys and goats and lambs, and what's done
36:57
Speaker 1: to them institutionally is torture. One at a time. Sheriff
37:01
Speaker 1: Mike Boudreau says Valencia and Rivera used a rope to
37:04
Speaker 1: hang the dogs from a tree and then beat them
37:07
Speaker 1: with sticks. At one point, the men noticed one of
37:09
Speaker 1: the dogs was still alive. What the sheriff says they
37:12
Speaker 1: did next is even more disturbing. It appears that they
37:15
Speaker 1: took some type of cutting instrument UH to begin cutting
37:19
Speaker 1: the dog's head off. They took some type of cutting
37:21
Speaker 1: instrument UH to begin cutting the dog's head off. Um
37:26
Speaker 1: shocking to say the least, and the demeanor was not
37:28
Speaker 1: as if they felt they should be in trouble. Um,
37:31
Speaker 1: they didn't feel as if they had done really anything wrong.
37:34
Speaker 1: Was really alarming to the officers on scene. As you
37:36
Speaker 1: could imagine right now to to Larry County men are
37:39
Speaker 1: charged with animal cruelty, do you think to Sheriff Michael
37:44
Speaker 1: Boudreaux joining us, do you think this will actually go
37:48
Speaker 1: to trial? And if so and they found guilty, what
37:50
Speaker 1: could they possibly phase behind bars? Well, they're looking at
37:53
Speaker 1: some serious time. Is difficult, you know, in the court system,
37:57
Speaker 1: as you know, there's a lot of plea bargaining that
37:59
Speaker 1: takes place, a lot of effort to try to keep
38:01
Speaker 1: it going to trial. I think there's so much evidence
38:05
Speaker 1: against these two men, I would argue that it likely
38:07
Speaker 1: will never go to trial. There's not much defense in
38:10
Speaker 1: this and so the plea would probably come in. UM,
38:13
Speaker 1: so that makes it difficult to judge. But I know
38:16
Speaker 1: that we've had cases in the past where men have
38:18
Speaker 1: faced eight and ten twelve years and so in these
38:21
Speaker 1: two cases, our district attorney here is really aggressive when
38:24
Speaker 1: it comes to cruelty to animals, and um, they're they're
38:28
Speaker 1: seeking a very aggressive prosecution in this case and I
38:31
Speaker 1: would argue that it would likely be pled. But they're minimally,
38:35
Speaker 1: they're they're they're looking at anywhere between eight and ten years.
38:38
Speaker 1: Let me ask you this, sheriff, How did your sheriffs react?
38:43
Speaker 1: What did they say about the scene, What did they
38:46
Speaker 1: find when they got there? Well, when they did get there,
38:49
Speaker 1: as I had mentioned before, it appeared to be a
38:52
Speaker 1: very serious, uh crime scene, much like a homicide. There
38:57
Speaker 1: was blood everywhere, um was evidence. As with the sticks.
39:02
Speaker 1: There was blood on the sticks that were using. When
39:04
Speaker 1: I say sticks, they weren't tree limbs. These are like
39:07
Speaker 1: large boards, um that was used against them. They were
39:11
Speaker 1: pruning shears with blood all over them. It was quite
39:15
Speaker 1: the massacre. And so to hear them describe it and
39:18
Speaker 1: then see it on video, it was man horrific to
39:23
Speaker 1: say the least, And and the deputies described it as
39:26
Speaker 1: you know, when I was researching these stories, I saw
39:33
Speaker 1: photos of animals of dogs with their mouths duct tape
39:38
Speaker 1: shut and their feet duct tape together. And when you
39:43
Speaker 1: pull up one story like this and research it, it
39:46
Speaker 1: pulls up so many more. You know, I just don't
39:50
Speaker 1: understand the thinking of someone to you. Claudine Wilkins with
39:56
Speaker 1: animal law source dot org. How humans can treat animals
40:03
Speaker 1: this way, it's hard to swallow, Nancy Um. It's indicative
40:07
Speaker 1: of the behavior and the deprived mind we have. In Georgia,
40:11
Speaker 1: for example, our law changed, Our felony law came into
40:15
Speaker 1: existence because of a dog named Honey, and the dog
40:18
Speaker 1: was burned over of his body on purpose for fun.
40:23
Speaker 1: And three years later, the same young man that did
40:26
Speaker 1: that to this dog committed murder. So there is a
40:29
Speaker 1: direct correlation to this. And you said something earlier about
40:33
Speaker 1: a man abusing a dog in a sexual act. What
40:36
Speaker 1: people don't know is human trafficking and child porn is
40:39
Speaker 1: a very serious issue we're all dealing with. And I'm
40:43
Speaker 1: astounded that the folks in law enforcement don't give enough
40:48
Speaker 1: attention to this particular crime because it's completely correlated to
40:53
Speaker 1: abusing children. I mean, I can tell you this. We
40:57
Speaker 1: had a gentleman who spoke at one of my symposiums
41:01
Speaker 1: of the cases he investigated on crimes against animals involving
41:06
Speaker 1: sexual acts. Of the cases he investigated lead to a
41:11
Speaker 1: child porn ring because of the videotaping and the selling
41:14
Speaker 1: of those videotapes. There's a serious depravity going on here,
41:19
Speaker 1: and we all know that if we took our own
41:21
Speaker 1: pet and stuck his paw on the oven. We know
41:25
Speaker 1: the animals feel pain. We know that they can't speak.
41:29
Speaker 1: We know that they look to us to protect them,
41:31
Speaker 1: and we have to protect them with me is Claudine Wilkins,
41:35
Speaker 1: our friend Jane Villeas Mitchell, Penny Douglas Fur, and our
41:40
Speaker 1: special guest, Sheriff Michael Boudreau. I can't thank you enough.
41:45
Speaker 1: As we go to air right now, we are learning
41:48
Speaker 1: there is a verdict in the case of the pscythe
41:52
Speaker 1: county dog groom or charged in multiple counts of killing
41:57
Speaker 1: dogs she was grooming. A verdict has been handed down.
42:03
Speaker 1: The dog groomer has been found guilty. Guilty and joining
42:09
Speaker 1: me right now animal activist Penny Douglas Fur and Eric Francis. Eric,
42:16
Speaker 1: what is your reaction to the fact that she has
42:19
Speaker 1: been found guilty on one of the counts. Great, I
42:23
Speaker 1: can't express my feelings enough to let you know that
42:26
Speaker 1: the truth did prevail and the jury did hear the
42:30
Speaker 1: truth from the witnesses. As we go to air, victim
42:34
Speaker 1: impact statements are being introduced into court. This verdict has
42:37
Speaker 1: just happened. We are talking about Michelle Louise Root, who,
42:44
Speaker 1: according to this jury, has attacked, mistreated, killed pets under
42:50
Speaker 1: the guise of grooming them. To Penny Douglas, fur attorney
42:54
Speaker 1: and animal activists joining us out of Atlanta. Penny, what
42:58
Speaker 1: happened in court? Well, Nancy, the jury came back with
43:02
Speaker 1: a guilty on Miko and not guilty on Little Boy.
43:05
Speaker 1: And I believe that the reason for that is that
43:09
Speaker 1: Little Boy was not reported for almost a year, And
43:13
Speaker 1: I think that tells people that if you believe that
43:17
Speaker 1: your dog has been abused, you need to report it immediately,
43:21
Speaker 1: do not wait because the evidence goes away. As we know,
43:26
Speaker 1: Miko's death was reported immediately, but Little Boys didn't come
43:32
Speaker 1: out until a year later. So I just want to
43:36
Speaker 1: encourage people to make sure and come forward if they
43:39
Speaker 1: believe their animals are being abused. To Eric Francis, Eric,
43:44
Speaker 1: tell me about Miko, and you can find out all
43:47
Speaker 1: about this story at crime online dot com and you
43:51
Speaker 1: can see pictures of Miko and Little Boy also at
43:55
Speaker 1: Justice for Miko dot com and that's justice the number
43:58
Speaker 1: four Miko dot com. Tell me about Miko, Eric Francis,
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Speaker 1: and what is your understanding of what Michelle Louise Root
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Speaker 1: did to that sweet little dog. Miko was a great dog.
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Speaker 1: Let me start off there. You know, when you find
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Speaker 1: an animal that you really connect with, it's almost like
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Speaker 1: they're a part of your heart. They become a part
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Speaker 1: of your family. They become the children that you never had,
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Speaker 1: or the child that you see every day. The best
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Speaker 1: thing is they don't usually talk back like a teenager.
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Speaker 1: But what I found when we discovered the dog was deceased,
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Speaker 1: and then we heard just a few minutes later that Lisa,
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Speaker 1: one of the dog washers, had gone to the local
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Speaker 1: police department and was giving a statement that what Michelle
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Speaker 1: had done was the dog had apparently jumped off the
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Speaker 1: grooming table and ran to the back and was completely petrified.
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Speaker 1: She then went to back and proceeded to stomp on
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Speaker 1: his head, choke him, dragged him around the back of
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Speaker 1: the shop, banged his head against the wall, uh, and
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Speaker 1: then literally put him up on the table and put
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Speaker 1: the leads so tight that it actually choked him to death.
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Speaker 1: And the necropsy report mirrored exactly what we had in
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Speaker 1: the witness statement, and I think that's what the jury
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Speaker 1: heard and that's why they came down with a guilty verdict.
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Speaker 1: You know, I call it a medical exander's statement. The
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Speaker 1: the autopsy of the dog, Miko found not only had
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Speaker 1: he been strangled severely, he had horrible bruises on his legs,
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Speaker 1: his abdomen, his head, his shoulder and neck. There was
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Speaker 1: damage to his brain and his lungs and other body parts.
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Speaker 1: Are this little this little dog is so precious, these
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Speaker 1: big brown eyes looking up at you. It's it's horrible.
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Speaker 1: They're all detailed in the report where U g A
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Speaker 1: did an autopsy on the dog, everything in them. Michelle
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Speaker 1: Louise Root took the stand Penny Douglas, and I don't
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Speaker 1: think that helped her at all. Well, Natthy, what blew
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Speaker 1: me away was the evidence that the doctor gave that
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Speaker 1: this dog had to have hung off the table between
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Speaker 1: five and twelve minutes. How could a dog in your
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Speaker 1: business hang by his neck off the table for five
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Speaker 1: to twelve minutes and nobody rushes over to get him
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Speaker 1: back up on the table. How did that happen? You know?
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Speaker 1: And in court we learned that the testimony on the
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Speaker 1: stand in front of this jury became very tearful, people
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Speaker 1: actually breaking down and crying as they described what hack
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Speaker 1: happened to little Miko, and former employees of this forsythe
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Speaker 1: County Petsilon claim they looked on as the shop's owner
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Speaker 1: kicked and choked Miko the dog until Miko was dead.
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Speaker 1: Alan that's the latest from that forsythe county courtroom. Nancy
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Speaker 1: getting this now from the courtroom. The judge announcing the
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Speaker 1: sentence for this dog groomer for killing Miko. Five years
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Speaker 1: in prison, three of them to serve two years on
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Speaker 1: probation after that of community service, and this groomer can
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Speaker 1: no longer ever own, groom or deal with any animals.
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Speaker 1: It seems to me that Lady justice prevailed. Nancy Grace
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Speaker 1: crime story signing off, goodbye friend,