Kapone and Jersey were impounded by an ACO from Memphis Animal Services on June 24. Kapone has been “missing” since that time. Although Janet Hooks issued a statement indicating the city’s belief “that Kapone was never sheltered” at MAS, the pound’s own records seem to indicate otherwise (click an image to enlarge):
I do not understand why the city has not issued a statement of the explanation provided by the impounding ACO, listed on the records above as Demetria Hogan, regarding what happened to Kapone. I didn’t go to detective school but to my mind, this is the most obvious and direct route to solving this mystery. How can anyone expect to mount a meaningful search for the dog without this key information? I’m assuming MAS asked ACO Hogan about Kapone. I mean, right?
There is a $3000 reward being offered for the safe return of Kapone to his family.
Tipline for information regarding Kapone: 901-528-0699
http://www.animallawcoalition.com/public-shelters/article/1092
Look at this article regarding Demetria Hogan, she is an expert at forgery.
Or maybe not since she got caught and convicted. Long criminal record. Not only that–she sued a member of the MAS Shelter Advisory Board for saying baaad things about her.
Things that were already a matter of public record. Guess we better watch it, lawl.
Thank you for sharing this information with us. I am equally puzzled – so, we know the ACO was Demetria Hogan – hmmm, why is that name so familiar – I guess I need to google her…..Why have we not heard one word from her? I wonder how the “investigation” is going?! Guess it’s time to ask our city leaders, again, about this! And I hope others will continue to do the same!
I like how there’s a spot for a photo on the intake cards, but no one bothers to snap a picture of animals being brought in.
MAS needs to come clean on this and quickly – it’s not going to get better by ignoring the family’s questions about what they did with Kapone. Time for law enforcement to investigate, I think.
I actually work in a shelter myself, it is unbelievable that a “shelter” could do this. Just gives us a bad name, not all shelters are shady like this. Hope Kapone is returned somehow, someway.
@Humanesc: It is actually named Memphis Animal Services, and you’re right, it is not a shelter. It is a facility that has to take whatever comes in. There are still many, many people who are ignorant when it comes to spay/neuter, and they don’t care that animals have feelings and souls too.
As for the prison release program, I’m all for giving a helping hand to those who truly want to make a fresh start, but not having a good strong supervisory staff is like putting the fox in the hen house.
Look at the numbers of dogs that go “missing” each year at MAS. How can you lose a dog? Ok, I can see maybe one or two a year, but hundreds? Sounds like some back door dealing to me.
Thank you all so much for posting and commenting on this horrible situation in Memphis. We are ashamed.
what about the clerk – denise? can she be reached for comment?
I noticed the chameleon logo on the corner of the intake cards – why in the heck aren’t they using this software, as it was intended to be used – if it had been used properly, pictures of both Jersey and Kapone would have been in the system…. this absolutely ridiculous!
Both Chameleon and PetPoint have tne space for a picture. Where I am, SC, I was told “we don’t have staff or time to take pics. And besides, we might get those folks that lie to us about owning the animal in the pic.”
Soooo, let’s just keep the public guessing.
Just go to this little site and type in Demetria Hogan’s name. What a wonderful person to be caring for our animals. Fail.
http://jssi.shelbycountytn.gov/
I am certain the city attorney has put a gag order on the staff, to “limit liability”. They know something and won’t spill the beans until forced. The owner of Kapone should at the minimum consult a lawyer to see if they can compel the City employees to a deposition.
It just seems so wrong that the family should have to pay for an attorney to get info from MAS when they already pay taxes to employ everyone at MAS and keep the place running. These answers should have been provided freely and immediately IMO.
The writing is on the wall. ALL shelters need to be run by the private sector.
I guess Demetria’s had more than a Second Chance. Kick her fucking ass outta there NOW!
Seriously, can you believe that?? Not only is she all over the general sessions but criminal court, too. Ridiculous!
i notice on Jersey’s kennel card there’s a note under the comment section about entering the owner’s info. But there’s no such note on Kapone’s kennel card. That might lead someone to think they can getting away with taking (stealing, selling, whatevs) Kapone (who ‘clearly’ doesn’t have an owner) but not Jersey.
Ok to me the first card DOES list 2 dogs. It says 1 white/1brindle
When looking at the facebook page for Kapone, the other dog is predominantly white with a brindle head. My thought is a caller would just list a dog with a brindle head and white body is a white dog. And Kapone is predominately brindle with some cream patches. And it clearly says impound 2.This whole story is just horrible and sad. MAS should be ashamed.
my dog got loose and they over tranquillized him and killed him then said he was hit by a truck while they were chasing him.a narcopsy or whatever was preformed and there was no signs of him being hit but he had a pin hole from where they shot him.danville illinois
Hogan does have a shady past but noted last date was 1971. She was probably hired as a rehabilitation risk. I feel this dog has been sold & I shudder to think for what purpose. Money is usually at the root of these strange cases. I feel for the owners & hopefully the reward will oust the truth. The world is watching. Will share from Canada.
Margaret,
I’m not sure what information you are looking at but someone whose last conviction for a crime was in 1971 is probably retired at this point.
I don’t disagree with what you think may have happened to Kapone – I think he was likely sold or given away – from the backdoor of the shelter or the back of the truck.
but – you’re reading the information wrong. her birthday is 6/16/1971. Looks like the last time she was in court was May of last year.
I searched under Demetria Hogan at http://jssi.shelbycountytn.gov/
(posted by Kim above) and came up with several entries. At first I thought they were ancient history dating back to 1967, 1971 and even 1961. But those dates are listed for DOB–date of birth. Not
date of criminal charge or conviction. There might be more than one person named Demetria Hogan or maybe she has a very loose idea of her date of birth? Or lots of IDs?
If her last conviction were in 1971–forty years ago–she wouldn’t be working as an ACO picking up stray pit bulls in the street. That’s her date of birth.
Perhaps there is some sort of chokepole/cane combo device available for the senior ACOs…
I want to thank you Shirley for posting the forms. I find it sad that so few members of the *irresponsible public* even know what the process is, let alone all the paperwork that is required to lose or relinquish an animal to a government facility.
The number of errors/discrepancies seen here is not unusual. What we (the public) need to realize is that our beloved pets are just numbers and forms to many union employees. Their lives and families matter not so much.
If we can figure out how to put compassion on a form, we might could fix this problem…but, well, good luck with that.
My condolences to the Shoup family. Here’s my top three choices:
1) The original form wasn’t clear on total number of animals impounded, so the ACO or tenders decided to *punish* the owners by killing the *extra* pet.
2) Since the owners name didn’t get put onto the second kennel card (Kapone’s) they decided independently that an aged lost pittie didn’t deserve to live, so they killed him…cuz that’s their job!
3) Somebody’s got a market for bait dogs and slipped Kapone out the back door because his paperwork wasn’t spot-on and who would miss an old pitt anyway?
Anybody wanna place bets on how this will all shake down? Oh PLEASE, can we make an example of this case and actually move forward towards cleaning this horrid house of graft and apathy?!?
the card indecates that MPD was on scene why not look up thier paperwork they have a paper trail on all stop no matter how minor
These people have some serious explaining to do. It clearly indicates that 2 dogs were impounded. I agree with those who think there is something illegal going on – out the back (of truck or door, take your pick) and I fear for what has likely happened to Kapone. Just breaks my heart to think about it – and all the others whose families didn’t know/didn’t care, who have suffered a similar fate.
I hope someone steps up for these peoples sakes. I can’t imagine the awful fear and sorrow of knowing one of my dogs had disappeared at this horrible place. Makes me give them extra hugs.
I just have a really bad feeling about how all of this is going to end…
I hope this FORCES a cleaning out from the top down at MAS. That place is a disgrace and cases like this far outweigh any good they do. I suspect there would be no good at all without the Friends of MAS group. Thank goodness they are there to give some semblance of care and concern to MAS.
I beg to differ, Debbie. Sadly you have mistaken Friends of MAS as a group of people that are the ones to do good…..they are a group that turns their heads the other way when they see or know of wrong doings (inhumane treatment – no compassion shown to the animals) at MAS. They have not followed the Kapone story because that would show the public that there REALLY are so many problems at MAS. They do much more harm than good- just like the shelter….NOW- look at the Memphis Animal Services Volunteers- THEY do a FANTASTIC job – they do not twist and spin stories- they post information- HONEST information and they are doing such a great job of keeping the public informed about Kapone.
https://www.facebook.com/MASVolunteers
Thanks, EmilyS!
Wow I noticed that Jersey was put in cage 570 and Kapone was put in cage 600. If i’m not mistaken the 500’s cages are the big dog runs that can hold 2 or 3 dogs. The 600 cages are smaller 1 dog cages. Kapone was probably put in a seperate cage for (1) he’s a pitbull and/or (2) the shelter was filled to capacity and there was no more room in the big dog area. Therefore, when space was available in the big dog area aka the 500’s cages Kapone should have been moved to a bigger cage. Isn’t it the memphis animal shelter’s Technicians responsibility to move Kapone to a bigger cage? Did Kapone ever get moved to a bigger cage? If he was moved to a bigger cage, it should have been updated on the paperwork and in the computer system. On Kapone’s kennel record he is listed as a 2 yr old male pitbull. Kapone is clearly 11 years old. I think Kapone got mixed up in the shuffle, his paperwork was mishandled and he was euthanized. Now a couple of animal shelter technicians are being “hush hush” about the whole story. I really don’t believe a veteran officer would jeopardize his or her livelyhood for the sake of making a couple of bucks off of an 11 year old dog. There were plenty of witnesses in Cordova including 2 Memphis Police Officers. It just doesn’t add up. Memphis Tennessee is the Pit Bull Capitol of the South. You can pretty much find a pit running loose from East Memphis to Southwest Memphis,All Day,Everyday.
And regarding the memphis animal shelter “raid” in 2009, It has been almost 2 years and the cruelty case still hasn’t been solved. I wonder what the hold up is? They never had any proof from the beginning of the investigation. That was and still is “Hear Say”. It does not take 2 years to solve a felony animal cruelty case against anybody, anywhere in America including Memphis. So who’s to blame now…?
According to the statement from Janet Hooks, a review of the security camera footage from MAS indicates only Jersey was brought inside the shelter. I don’t know if anyone not employed by the city has been able to see this footage. I know the Shoups asked to see it but last I heard, they had not been given the video.
Sorry to disagree Idlewild, there is more than enough evidence to prosecute the 16 felony counts lodged against the three. The case was presented to a special grand jury with a very high level of proof mandated for indictments.
The hold up has been for mandatory “court appearances” typical in a felony case of this magnitude. Of the two prosecutors one is now a judge and the other is with a different division. Both had to be replaced and two new prosecutors brought in. But the majority of the “court appearances” were requested by the defense attorney.
no need to be sorry….In the end we’ll see…Guilty until proven innocent. They’ll back in court July 20….
Why didn’t the other so-called vet not get charged with anything? She was there taking pictures and writing reports. Didn’t she see what was “going on”? The case is full of holes. I was personally told by a MAS volunteer that the whole case was to get rid of Alexander and it backfired on them and everybody got thrown under the bus. How convenient was it for them to stage the “raid” the day after yalls wonderful mayor was sworn in. Now he needs to be sworn out. Look at him now…pitiful..In the End we’ll see…Guilty until proven innocent.
What does Janet Hooks know? She runs in and out the front door so fast because she can’t stand the smell. The shelter’s video system automatically resets after 7 days. So the video may be gone i.e. erased.
How convenient!
Janet Hooks has absolutly no qualifications for operating an animal shelter or even a dog house. She got the job because of the ‘cousin’ network as her husband was a property assessor but lost his job because of some un-remembered legal entanglments. He got the job because of his father B. Hooks who became a judge. Her only qualification is being married to the judge’s son. I doubt if she’s even ever taken care of a ‘pet’.
She certainly isn’t doing a proper job now is she?