An Eaton man has been accused of leaving two dogs to starve in a house that police said was infested with cockroaches and fleas, and full of animal feces. Brock Allen Clark, 22, was arrested by Eaton police late Wednesday afternoon on two counts of cruelty.
On Thursday afternoon, a man authorities said was Brock Clark's father, 51-year-old Denny Allen Clark, was arrested on identical charges.
Phil Peckinpaugh, director of Muncie’s animal shelter, said the two canines – pit bulls named Diesel and Dozer – apparently had not been fed for an extended period, and were “the most emaciated dogs I’ve ever seen.”
Authorities had removed four other dogs from the house, on Monday, but were unaware until Wednesday that the two pit bulls were shut in a room that had been formerly occupied by Brock Clark.
The dogs found on Monday were also taken to the shelter, but had apparently been fed and were not in poor health, Peckinpaugh said.
“There was dog food in the house,” the shelter director said, adding that a conscious decision had apparently been made to feed some dogs but not others.
According to an affidavit, crystal meth, along with thousands of cockroaches and “animal feces throughout,” were found in the house on Monday.
An Eaton officer, inspecting the house on Wednesday with Delaware County Health Department officials, wrote that Diesel and Dozer were found “in critical condition while laying in their own feces and waste.”
Officer Andrew Storie also indicated the dogs, infested with fleas, were so malnourished they “could not walk on their own power.”
The people living in the house after Brock Clark apparently moved away “could not advise use the last time the dogs were let outside, fed or taken to the vet for medical treatment,” Storie added.
Peckinpaugh said despite their conditions, the pit bulls were friendly, and it was hoped both would recover.
Efforts were under way to find temporary foster homes for the dogs, both believed to be about seven years old.
The shelter director was also at the Eaton house on Wednedsday, and called conditions there “horrible.”
“It was full of cockroaches, and feces was everywhere,” he said.