Update August 10, 2013 I went to court for three pre-trial motions Wednesday August 7th, 2013. The Judge granted the first one and discharged the prosecutor because of his involvement in the illegal search. On the second one he said "If this was a murder trial I would throw this case out right now, because of the illegal search." The new prosecutor told the judge that dog catchers don't need a search warrant. The fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution does not apply to dog catchers. The Judge said That is crazy, all police officers have to have a search warrant and dog catchers do not. If that is true, instead of getting a search warrant they could just have a dog catcher meet them at any house they want to search. He also said even if it is a state law it will not override the constitution. He gave them until August 30th to write a brief explaining their position, while my attorney writes one saying how ridiculous their argument is.
The Judge then Said this case is not even about animal cruelty. I expected you to tell me The dogs were malnourished, dehydrated or covered in maggots. I have Beagles at home that knock over their water bowls this is not a crime. If this man is guilty of animal cruelty, then so am I. This case should never have been brought to court.
Then he said if I want my dogs back I had until Monday August 12th at 4:00 to take $9,500.00 to the animal shelter or the dogs would be adopted out. On July 23rd, 2013 someone claiming to be the secretary for the animal shelter sent an email to the Patterdale Terrier Club of America saying ...We can not adopt them out because of their aggression. So legally they can kill all my dogs at 4:01 pm Monday.
I did find out that although prosecutors are immune to civil lawsuits for misconduct during court proceedings, they can be sued when misconduct happens during an investigation. So I can sue him for criminal trespass and the illegal search during the investigation. Todd
Update July 25th. The HCW animal shelter has now stated that they will not be able to adopt out my Patterdales if I loose the case. My new Attorney officially took over the case yesterday. I have a pre-trial hearing on August 5th.
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Original StoryJune 11th, 2013. My house was illegally raided by dog catchers Greg Iseli and Jim Cumm from the Huntington Cabell Wayne Animal Control Shelter who think they have more authority than the CIA, FBI, NSA, State Police, Sheriffs, City police, Federal Marshalls, Eric Holder, and even President Obama.
Greg Iseli in my kennels on his knees, I had not even cleaned them yet.
They all need a search warrant but Greg Iseli does not. He does not even know what a search warrant is. Eric holder and all the guys above instead of getting a search warrant they should just have a dog catcher meet them at the address they want to search.
The Fourth Amendment of the US constitution as well as Article three section six of the West Virginia Constitution both protect citizens from unreasonable search and seizure. The government may not conduct any searches without a warrant, and such warrants must be issued by a judge and based on probable cause.
On May/18/2013 I had a litter of pups out of a daughter of FC Booth's Milo of Deadgame HOF, Koko. In the pictures below they were 1 week old and my daughter had already named them.
This was an important litter to me. I had paid to have Koko shipped to me so that I could breed her to have a pup down from milo. I was suppose to send her and one pup back. I have to give the owner of the male one pup. Since there was four pups I was guaranteed a pup. I was warned not to let any strangers around Koko because if any one gets her excited she would eat her pups, so I put up a six foot privacy fence with a no trespassing sign on it in front of the kennels, then blocked the back of the kennels with camouflaged tarps, the front side of the kennels was blocked by my house which was four foot away. the back side was open to my back yard which was not accessible to the public. I thought the pups would be safe.
But my neighbor's who live 20 miles away from me, called the dog pound and told them the dogs had not been fed for two weeks. The call was made anonymous, but she has done it before, telling the same lies so I know who it was. The call was not important enough to run on the day they got it. The dog catchers waited until the next day and came to my house. I was not home, so instead of obeying the law and leaving, or maybe writing me a note asking me to call when I got home. (This is how I would have done it. I was a dog catcher at that shelter for a year longer than Greg has been one). Both Greg and the Director of the shelter Jim Cumm, ignored my fences, they ignored my no trespassing signs and went through my front yard around my house and around the other side of my house where they were behind my privacy fence. No one is allowed in my Kennel area except me and my kids. So I know the dogs were very excited, trying to get the intruders. I assume that Koko jumped out of her dog house so fast she drug her four 24 day old puppies out of the house with her, they were latched onto her nipples, By the time the trespassing dog catchers got to the first kennel by the privacy fence, one pup was almost entirely eaten and another was dead. They took pictures and then went to the wayne county prosecutors office . Apparently that still was not enough to get a search warrant, which always had me wondering, why would a Prosecuting attorney leave his air-conditioned office to come look at kennels, when he already had pictures? The other day in court they asked Greg what he took pictures of on the first trip, He said water bowls and feces, no mention of pups. This makes me think that the pups were not dead on the first trip. So the assistant prosecuting attorney Greg Michaels, came back to my house with the dog catcher and they searched my home again without a search warrant. Then they finally went and got a search warrant. While they were gone, getting a search warrant, I came home. I noticed that Koko the mother dog was very shook up and I saw two pups out of the dog house. It is impossible for those pups to get out on their own at that age so I knew something was wrong. I checked the house and the other two pups were gone. I moved Koko to another kennel thinking that a raccoon or something had her shook up. then the dog catchers showed up with a search warrant.
I read the warrant it said they were searching for dogs with no food or water, in deplorable living conditions, with no shelter and two dead pups. I said "well you won't find any of that here." Greg said "we are not here searching for anything, we are here to take your dogs. Now where are the dead pups." I said "what dead pups?" he said "I was here earlier and I took pictures of two dead pups." I said "you searched my home without a search warrant." I now knew why Koko was shook up and where my two pups were. They are dead because Greg broke the law and searched my home illegally.
My daughter keeps asking me, which pups did he kill.
He said "I don't need a warrant to search your home, I just need a warrant if I am going to take your dogs. The prosecuting attorney was with me!"
Any way he wrote me three tickets, with falsified information on them. They took all of my dogs. I just happened to have a video camera hanging around my neck. I was going to take pictures of the pups. I videotaped them taking my dogs. You can see in the video all dogs are clean, all kennels are clean, all dogs have shelter,
You can see the dog catchers in the kennel next to this one. This one shows two different kennels, both had water and I had not watered them yet.
all of these pictures were taken while the dog catchers were there.
I just got there, I had shoveled the kennels but had not cleaned them yet
That white paper is being held by the dog catcher
That is the dog catchers arm. They planned on extorting my dogs to make money off of them, they were going to take my kennels also. I have new Kennels I had not put them up yet. If I would have put them up they would have taken them.
They kept my dogs for 17 hours then took half of them to a vet. A reporter was there at the vet, she called me and told me the dogs were filthy, covered in feces and urine. She asked them why they did not give them a bath, they said they wanted the vet to see what they looked like when they picked them up. (I believe they left them in the plastic kennels all night, so they would be dirty.) I said "I have a video that shows they left here clean." I sent her a link to the video. She told the dog catchers I had a video. I found it strange that they did not know I had a video. I watched the video again, none of the four dog catchers ever looked at me while I was making the video. They thought it was going to be my word against theirs. When they found out I had the video they brought the second half of the dogs over clean.
I took the video over to the vet and let her see it, she said " those dogs are clean! I don't see anything wrong with that setup!" She told me she examined all dogs, and said none of them were malnourished, or dehydrated. She could not find anything wrong with them, she said they kept telling her to keep looking. She said she could not find one flea on all of the dogs.
I went and plead not guilty to the charges, They said they would set up a hearing for three to six weeks. I said well Can I get my dogs back, they told me to come back in six days to have a hearing to see if I could get my dogs back. I had a court appointed attorney. she never called me during that six days. She finally called my name at 11:10 court started at 11:00. She told me The dogs were gone I would never get them back, I might as well plead guilty. I said no! I am not ready for a trial. I need to get my evidence. I need to get witness's, she said no you have to have the trial today. I think she tried to get a continuance but the judge would not let her. I have lost 60% of my hearing I told them that over and over again. They did nothing to help me hear, so I don't know what happened. They stopped the trial three times and tried to get me to plead guilty. Both the dog catcher and the prosecuting attorney admitted they searched my home without a search warrant. The dog catcher just said he walked around. The attorney said we were not sure which house it was and went up a public road beside his house and saw the puppies. first of all the attorney was there on the second trip. I know the dog catcher knew where the house was. secondly there are no public roads that goes beside my house and you could not see in the kennel with the pups, from anywhere even with a helicopter. You had to be two foot from my house, behind my privacy fence in between all the no trespassing signs.
The Magistrate asked the dog catcher if he was allowed to search my home without a warrant? Jim Cumm gave him a WV code that said he could gain access to land as permitted by law. My attorney said the 4th amendment makes it illegal for him to search my house without a warrant. She also said "I am not going to let this man tell you what the law is!" The Magistrate said "well I don't have a constitution" They said I was guilty gave me a $300 fine and then told me not to file an appeal, because it would get expensive. They said I would have to continue to pay for my dogs as long as the appeal was going on. My attorney said you lied to me you told me he could not get them back. after the prosecuting attorney found out I was filing an appeal, he told me I could get my dogs back through a friend in Ohio if I would agree not to file an appeal. I said no. We filed the appeal last Thursday. The conviction was thrown out and I get a new trial. I expect this judge to throw out the case because of the illegal search. I will update this page as I get more information. Jesus loves you. Todd.