DEADWOOD, S.D. (AP) - A western South Dakota man arrested Tuesday faces over two dozen charges for allegedly neglecting and starving more than 30 dogs, prosecutors said.
Thomas Mraz, of Whitewood, was charged Monday with five counts of animal cruelty and 26 counts of neglect, abandonment or mistreatment, Lawrence County State’s Attorney John Fitzgerald said. He’s being held at a Deadwood jail on a $1,000 bond.
Mraz faces up to two years in prison on each of the animal cruelty charges and one year in custody on each of the neglect charges, the Rapid City Journal reported. He’s being held at a Deadwood jail on a $1,000 bond.
The dogs were found and seized Oct. 13 by the Lawrence County Sheriff’s Office after it received a report of neglect. Deputies found dogs, including numerous dead ones, living outside and inside a home, trailers and vehicles on rural property between the towns of Whitewood and Nisland, Captain Patrick Johnson said.
A total of 35 dogs that belonged to Mraz are being cared for by the Western Hills Humane Society in Spearfish, which said the animals have signs of starvation and inbreeding. The dogs are of varying ages and mixes of redbone coonhounds and Rottweilers combined with some pit bull.
Mraz is scheduled to appear Wednesday at the Lawrence County Court in Deadwood.
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