A Kiln woman fighting to get her six dogs back after reporting her neighbor for allegedly physically and sexually assaulting the animals failed to regain custody in court on Tuesday.
Hancock County sheriff’s deputies seized the six female dogs and three male dogs after responding to a Jan. 21 report from Latosha Lynn High, 36, about the alleged abuse of the dogs by a man who lives in a tent inside a concrete structure on Standard Dedeaux Road, according to deputies who testified in a Justice Court hearing.
High owned six of the mixed-breed Bullador dogs — two males called Baby Boy and Tutut — and three females named Baby girl, Athena and Eroki.
High had called deputies to report that she suspected that a man had beaten her male dog, Tutut, with a PVC pipe and allegedly used a 9-inch sex toy to sexually assault some of the female dogs. The deputies said the hair around some of the female dog’s private parts had been shaven.
The man, who is not being identified pending any formal charges, denied any wrongdoing to deputies, though the criminal investigation is ongoing.
A camper filled with mold and mildew is where Hancock County sheriff’s deputies seized some of the nine mixed breed Bullador dogs after a report of alleged animal cruelty. Hancock County Sheriff's Department
Hancock deputies recover sex toys, other evidence
Two deputies testified Tuesday in a civil proceeding involving High trying to regain custody of the six dogs she said belonged to her. Deputies seized all of the dogs after responding to High’s report.
At the scene, deputies said they confiscated the sex toy covered in dog hair and feces and a pair of the man’s pants with what appeared to be blood on them.
High told deputies she suspected the man had been abusing the dogs for a while.
The afternoon she reported the crimes, she said she and the man had gotten into an argument because he had not paid her for work she had done for him. High said she was cleaning up the man’s property for pay.
High said she suspected the abuse after she left the man’s property that afternoon.
Tutut had whelts and pockets of fluid on his body and was lying on the ground next to a PVC pipe when High said she found him on the man’s property.
She told deputies she found the sex toys and the man’s pants with blood on them inside his home, along with a bucket of acid and water she believed he used to hide what he had done.
Hancock County sheriff’s deputies seized nine mixed-breed Bullador dogs from two properties in Kiln after a woman reported the dogs had been physically and sexually abused. Hancock County Sheriff's Department
Deputies report deplorable conditions
Deputy Lauralyn Yager and an animal control officer testified in the hearing Tuesday and said the animals were living in deplorable conditions with no access to food or water.
High, the deputy said, lived in a pickup truck on her property on CC Road with her six dogs.
The deputy said High’s property had her home on it that had burned, along with a camper with broken windows and a tarp covering it with mold and mildew all over the inside.
She said three of High’s dogs were running in and out of the camper.
Her other dogs, Yager and the animal control officer said, were in a makeshift pen that consisted of barbed wire wrapped around some trees she used as fence posts.
High did not have any electricity or running water, Yager said, though the dogs did not appear emaciated.
The property was littered with various garbage.
Hancock County sheriff’s deputies seized nine dogs after responding to a report of animal cruelty. Some of the dogs lived in rundown chicken coop on Standard Dedeaux Road in Kiln and had no food or water. Deputies seized the animals after a report about a man physically and sexually abusing some of the dogs. Hancock County Sheriff's Department
The deputies said that the other dogs lived on the man’s property, mainly in and around an old run-down chicken coop. The man lives in the tent inside a concrete structure on his property, Yager and the animal control officer said, and did have electricity and access to running water.
Deputies seized his dogs as well.
Coast woman fights to get her dogs back
During other testimony Tuesday, the deputies described how the dogs had medical issues and were now housed at Hancock County Animal Shelter.
High said she did feed her dogs and provide them with water. She the man usually provided the animals with food and claimed she had access to running water.
High said she never would have called authorities if she knew she would lose custody of the dogs she loves.
Hancock County prosecuting attorney, Olen Anderson, told Judge Eric Moran that High was simply “unable to adequately provide for the animals.”
“I don’t think she is a bad person,” Anderson said. “I don’t think anybody here is saying that. I think she is just unable to care for the animals. Unfortunately, she can’t provide for herself, and we all feel for her on that.”
The judge denied the woman’s request to regain custody of her six dogs. The man didn’t show up to appeal for the return of his three dogs.
“Ms. High, you don’t have a place to live,” Moran said. “What would make you want to keep six dogs? You don’t have a place to live yourself. The dogs don’t look that bad, but for God’s sake, you don’t have a place to live. You are living in a vehicle, Why didn’t you just sign the dogs over to the pound and give them a good home?”
High appealed to the judge to reconsider.
“These dogs are my family,” High said.
Moran responded: I’m sorry; I truly am. I don’t like taking a person’s animals from them, but you are unable to take care of them.”
Hancock County voters picked Eric C. Moran to be a Justice Court Judge. Patrick Magee pmagee@sunherald.com
After the hearing, High told the Sun Herald she will look into other ways to regain custody of the animals. High said she loves animals and has spent years volunteering at shelters to help animals in need of proper care.”
“I’m getting punished because I’m homeless,” High said. “I feed my dogs. I fed them every morning and every evening.”
The dogs are under a 30-day hold before they are eligible for adoption.
This story was originally published February 9, 2023 at 7:00 AM.
Margaret is an investigative reporter whose search for truth exposed corrupt sheriffs, a police chief and various jailers and led to the first prosecution of a federal hate crime for the murder of a transgendered person. She worked on the Sun Herald’s Pulitzer Prize-winning Hurricane Katrina team. When she pursues a big story, she is relentless.
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