Broomall man allegedly tries to silence barking dogs with rat-poison meatballs

BROOMALL, Pa. (WPVI) — A man is facing charges in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, after he allegedly tried to silence his neighbor’s barking dogs with poisonous meatballs.

It all started about two weeks ago when Joshua Hunter’s family found hundreds of pieces of chocolate scattered across the yard of their home in Broomall.

They quickly collected the confections since chocolate would be poisonous to their dogs, named Sushi and Hoagie, who love to play in the back.

“Fast-forward from that incident to two days ago. My son woke up again, took the dogs out — we’re on high alert — and there’s meatballs like this big, about 10 or 12 of them, all over the ground with 8 to 9 rat poison pellets in them,” recalled Hunter.

This time, though, the family’s surveillance cameras caught the suspect in the act. Hunter says he simply couldn’t believe what his camera captured.

“The guy took his time at 4 o’clock in the morning, both times with the chocolate, and this time to make meatballs and put rat poison in them. I mean, he was right outside my bedroom window doing this,” he says.

Just a few hours later, Marple Township police started canvassing the neighborhood and quickly arrested 63-year-old Mark Nugent, who lives less than a block away.

In fact, we’re told Nugent was still wearing the same outfit seen in the surveillance video.

Action News is also told that the suspect admitted to the crime, saying his motive was the dogs barking too loudly when playing outside.

Marple Township Police Chief Brandon Graeff says Nugent faces a string of charges, including cruelty to animals.

“The lead charge is a felony charge. I don’t know how much prison time, if any, that would carry, but they are serious charges. Fortunately, the animals were not injured,” said Graeff.

In the meantime, the suspect has been released after posting 10% of $50,000 bail, and Hunter says that has him stressed out.

“I’m sitting here with ALS in a wheelchair with five kids, and my girlfriend and I don’t feel safe at all. We’re losing sleep. In the meantime, this guy is out, and I don’t know what’s going to happen,” said Hunter.

He also says one of his dogs actually had one of those meatballs in its mouth, but one of his children was able to pull it out before the dog ingested it.

That’s the reason why neither dog was injured.

Nugent’s next court hearing is scheduled for later this month.