Durham man charged with animal cruelty after five dogs found decaying in home
A Durham man was arrested and charged with felony animal cruelty after a sheriff’s deputy found the decaying corpses of five dogs in his apartment last month.
Markeen Carlton Owens, 32, was taken into custody on Monday and booked into the Durham County Detention Center after a grand jury indicted him on five counts of felony animal cruelty and 10 counts of “animal-related” misdemeanors, the Durham County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release.
A deputy found the dogs in “varying stages of decay” on Oct. 14, when he visited an apartment in the 2900 block of Rochelle Street to help property management with a padlock, the sheriff’s office said.
Upon entering the apartment and noticing “a strong odor of decomposition and feces,” the deputy found two deceased dogs. The sheriff’s office’s animal services division conducted further searches of the apartment and found three additional deceased dogs, according to the release.
The remains of the dogs, one adult and four puppies, were sent to a lab for a necropsy, but were too decomposed for the cause of the death to be determined, the sheriff’s office said.
The sheriff’s animal services division consulted with the Durham District Attorney’s office, and repeatedly tried to contact Owens, who the sheriff’s office said was the resident of the apartment.
The deputy who found the dogs then appeared before the grand jury, after which Owens was indicted on the felony and misdemeanor animal charges.
Owens is being held on a $10,000 secured bond, and is scheduled to make his first appearance in court on Tuesday.
Anyone who lives in Durham County and doesn’t think they can continue looking after their pets should reach out to the Durham County Animal Shelter, an open-admissions shelter that will take any domesticated animals in the county, the sheriff’s office said. The shelter can be contacted at 919-560-0640.
If you believe an animal is being abused or has been abandoned, contact the sheriff’s communications office at 919-560-0900, and the animal services division will respond.
