Two men have been charged in connection with 15 dead dogs found floating in a creek in South Austin, police said.
Fred Riess, 61, and Rafael Cantu Baez-Riess, 51, were charged with intentional or knowing discharge, a third-degree felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
On April 14, police were alerted about the dogs being found in South Boggy Creek behind a house at 2107 Shiloh Drive, according to an arrest affidavit released Monday. Riess and Baez-Riess had moved out of the house on April 13 to a new home in Cameron in Milam County, the affidavit said.
It said that when animal control officers pulled the dogs out of the creek, they were wrapped in plastic bags or pet pee pads and surrounded by trash that looked like it came from a home being cleaned out, the document said. Police said 14 abandoned ducks were found alive in the backyard of the Shiloh Drive house.
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When police interviewed Baez-Riess on June 25, he said that when the dogs that he and Riess owned died, the men placed them in a freezer until they could pay for their cremation, the affidavit said. Baez-Riess also told police about an incident involving bees, according to the affidavit. It did not contain additional information about the incident but seemed to suggest it involved the dogs because an officer asked Baez-Riess if the dogs found in the creek had died after the bee incident.
Baez-Riess said it was possible that the dogs had died after that incident, the document said, but he also questioned why the dead dogs were found in the creek. It said he told police that he and Riess were the only people who moved their belongings to their new home.
“This would indicate they were the only ones who had access to the deceased animals before they were dumped,” according to the affidavit.
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Police then went to the men’s home in Cameron and searched a freezer and found the bodies of small-breed dogs, the affidavit said. It said some of the dogs were wrapped in material similar to what was found around the dead dogs in South Boggy Creek. It said officials took the freezer to the Austin Animal Center, where investigators removed 33 dead animals from it, with some found to have owner identification chips in their bodies. The affidavit did not contain any details about who the owners were on the ID chips.
Investigators later determined that the dogs found in the freezer were similar in size, color and breed to those found in the creek, according to the affidavit.
The dogs found in the creek were discovered along with items typically found in a freezer, including ice packs and popsicles, police said. This suggested a connection between the dogs found in the creek and the dogs found in the freezer, the affidavit said.
Reiss and Baez-Reiss also face misdemeanor charges of cruelty to animals.
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