Read it here.
The main thing that stands out to me is the “false statement of material fact in connection with the employee’s job, including falsification of City records”. I interpret that to indicate that MAS may believe Ms. Hogan entered Kapone’s information into the computer, generating a cage card for him, but never actually brought him inside. And when questioned about it later, lied. What do you think?
As far as the scheduled hearing referenced in the document, it reportedly did not happen:
Hogan was also supposed to have been subjected to a disciplinary hearing at Memphis Animal Services Tuesday, but that was postponed.
Added: Well, this is weird. Just when you think you might have a handle on this whole sordid mess, someone throws another monkey wrench into the machine. This timeline of events is from the Commercial Appeal:
Hogan officially took custody of both dogs at 10:45 a.m. and was en route to the animal shelter at 3456 Tchulahoma.
However, at 11:14 a.m., she contacted the dispatcher and said she was going to her home instead. Hogan showed on her log sheet that she was back en route to the shelter 70 minutes later at 12:24 p.m.
She apparently arrived at the shelter at 12:50 p.m., saying she had both dogs with her, according to the affidavit.
Hogan told police she put Kapone in the shelter’s holding area, but a check of surveillance footage found no evidence that she was even at the shelter, let alone placing a dog there, the affidavit said.
At 1:03 p.m., Hogan’s log sheet showed that she was leaving the shelter with at least one of the dogs still on the truck. She did not return to the shelter until 2:21 p.m.
Shelter supervisor Glenn Andrews told police that he carried the second dog into the shelter at 3 p.m., meaning that dog — likely Jersey — had been on the truck for over four hours.
At the time the dogs were picked up, the temperature was 87 degrees. By the time Andrews took the second dog into the shelter, it was still 83 degrees.
Curiouser and curiouser.
Also Added: The police report seems to confirm the above timeline. My heart is sinking.
On 06/24/11 at 1004hrs the defendant Demetria Hogan acting in the capacity of a City of Memphis animal control officer received a call to 1542 Oaken Bucket to retrieve two dogs being detained by Memphis Police officers. At 1045hrs defendant Hogan took custody of both dogs from Memphis Police and showed herself in route to the animal shelter. At 1114hrs defendant Hogan showed on her log sheet and contacted the dispatcher that she was in route to her home. The defendant Hogan showed herself on her log sheet back in route to the shelter at 1224hrs and arriving at 1250hrs with both dogs in her care. The defendant advised upon arrival she logged one of the dogs (KAPONE) in the shelter and placed him in the six hundred section of the holding area. Upon further investigation and reviewing video surveillance from the animal shelter, the defendant could not be seen arriving at the shelter or placing either dogs in any part of the shelter. At this time the dog (Kapone) hasn’t been located. At 1303hrs the defendant showed herself clearing the animal shelter with the second dog still on the truck. The defendant did not arrive back at the shelter until 1421hrs. Shelter supervisor Glenn Andrews stated he physically carried the second dog into the shelter at 1500hrs. Base on this statement from Mr. Andrews the second dog had been on truck for over four hrs. After conferring with District Attorney about this incident, she advised to charge the defendant with the listed charges.
Cruelty to animals 39-14-202 (2) counts
I know MAS must have questioned Ms. Hogan about Kapone as soon as he was discovered missing. I assume they would have also questioned Mr. Andrews and anyone else there that day. So they had this information from what – day one? Day two maybe? How could they let her go on working, presumably picking up dogs off the street and loading them into her truck? What if the Shoup family hadn’t pressed the issue and gotten the police involved? Would MAS have swept this under the rug?
I would like to see records on every pet Ms. Hogan has impounded since June 24. I’d like to see how long they were left on her truck, if any went “missing” and if any died as a result of her “care”. And then I’d like to compare those records with the surveillance footage to see if there are any serious discrepancies such as those detailed in the police report. I want to know exactly what management’s failure to act has resulted in over these past weeks. This is unconscionable. How dare the city describe this as an isolated incident. There is a pattern of abuse at MAS, from the top on down. They can’t all be isolated incidents.
Allowing Ms. Hogan to continue to pick up dogs off the street after they learned about this is sickening to me. I feel sorry for any pets she has ever picked up but especially for those impounded since June 24. Because MAS knew, or should have known, the information contained in the police report since that time. Yet they let her carry on as usual.
Update #3: Well that didn’t take long. A reader just sent me this video clip (link below, it wouldn’t embed) from ABC24. While Ms. Hogan was evading cops who were trying to arrest her yesterday afternoon, she drove a dog in dire need of care around on her truck until he died. I am sick.
The print article is here.
It would be nice if she would just tell someone what she did with the dog.
For some reason I can’t access the document
What does it say when you click the link?
it is working for me now. It originally said I didn’t have proper permissions
OK good. Must have just been a temporary glitch.
If she really entered the info in the computer and printed a cage card for him I have to wonder if she is the one who took Kapone. If she never brought him into the building it would have been smarter to not enter him in any of the records at all.
Daniela
Yes but she is not the brightest bulb obviously. Everything she’s done in her life seems to be stupid.
Hmm. The article at
http://www.wreg.com/news/wreg-demetria-hogan,0,1594585.story
included a copy of the police report that says Melissa Shoup received a copy of a report typed by Demetria Hogan that said both dogs were received and processed at the shelter:
“On 07/01/2011 at 14:15 hours, Officer Covarrubias (12372) responded to a complaint at 8xxx Appling Farms. Victim Melissa Shoup(owner) advised that her dogs Kapone and Jersey both(American Staffordshire Terriers) were picked up by suspect Demetria Hogan(Animal Control Officer) on 06/24/11 from Oaken Bucket/Twin Rivers. She stated that when she went to pick them up only Jersey was found at 3456 Tchulahoma Rd(Memphis Animal Shelter). The victim advised she spoke with the shelters supervisor who advised Kapone was never recieved or processed. She also stated she was given a copy of a report typed by suspect Demetria Hogan stating both dogs were received and process showing kennel numbers and paperwork. Witness Randy Pogmore (neighbor) was on the scene on 06/24/11 with the responding officer when suspect Demetria Hogan made the scene and took custody of both animals(Kapone and Jersey).”
Maybe that’s part of the false city records charge.
That’s what I’m thinking–she not only entered Kapone in the system but wrote a false report and probably signed off on it.
Daniela, don’t assume she is smart…!
And Ms. Hooks’ assertion that Kapone never entered the shelter?
I don’t recall the exact working of her statement, but technically the phrase “it appears that Kapone was never at the shelter” appears to be correct. Which doesn’t mean that she shouldn’t have been doing alot more research, and taking steps to keep the ACO from having any access to other dogs till the discrepancies were cleared up.
I truly do not know what happened to Kapone. We may never find out what happened to that sweet baby. What I do know is that with her record, she should not have had access to drugs as a CAET (euthanasia tech). I heard that her certification was pulled after the raid on the shelter in 2009. But for 2 years from 2007-2009 she had access to some powerful drugs. She has a criminal history of drug charges, intent to sell, manufacturing to sell etc. NEVER should have been given that job.
I also know that with her criminal record she would be the perfect scapegoat.
I also know I wouldnt believe her should she swear on a stack of bibles and offer her life as sacrifice.
I think this is just the tip of the iceberg of corruption and abuses at MAS. I hope the investigators continue looking into this and many things. I’d love it if she would turn the tables and tell everything she knows about what goes on down there.
Just another thought to add to the mix –
I wonder if Kapone died while on the truck and she felt she had to do some quick cover-up to prevent anyone from knowing that he had died. Those trucks can get mighty hot and, even if they have a/c, she could have turned it off when parked.
At the very least, those who are in power need to CLEAN HOUSE NOW!
Shirley, thanks for taking on all of this on behalf of the animals of Memphis.
I’m still hoping Kapone is alive and his family will get him back.
But the shelter has a bad history of keeping dogs on the trucks too long in hot weather. Last year a dog died from heat stroke–
http://www.abc24.com/news/local/story/Dog-Dies-After-Spending-3-Hours-In-Hot-Animal/5jlbrWenLEmMPlCqxU1jPw.cspx
Or maybe only the Shelby Co. trucks don’t have ac? Not clear.
All those lies..
the evidence certainly suggests she left the dogs in the truck all that time and Kapone died there… Horrible.
And now I’m a regular commenter on the CA website!
I need to get a life . . .
Why did she not go straight to the shelter? Why go home? Either she had arranged a meeting there to sell Kapone or she decided to go home in the middle of the work day and take a nap and Kapone died in the heat.
I ask again, how many animals have gone missing under this woman’s signature? How many of last year’s missing 155 is SHE responsible for?
They’re going to fire her, but they’re not going to clean house like they need to. At least, that’s my sad prediction.
Agree that they need to do some serious investigatin’ about who was on duty when those other animals went missing.
Well, I wonder if she called someone from the truck between 10:45 and 11:14 and made a deal. They met at her house and worked out the details and then the buyer left with Kapone. Hogan went back to the shelter and faked the paperwork and left a little while later with Jersey still on the truck. Went to lunch or on calls or whatever until she took Jersey back to the shelter around 3 and another worker carried Jersey inside. Guess I’m looking for a scenario that leaves hope for Kapone to be found alive.
He *carried* Jersey in. Why did she need to be carried? Heat stress?
Either it was the nice guy that carried her in , or she had to be under stress. Frankly I am amazed she wasn’t dragged in with a catchpole.
she probably was under stress, but Glenn appears to be a very nice, animal loving guy from my interaction with him. He’s not “The” guy we always see on screenshots but I really liked him when I was talking with him this weekend. He does care.
I too am losing hope for Kapone, and it breaks my heart.
This fucking rabbit hole gets deeper and deeper….can we use CIA methods to make her talk? Obviously she’s a threat to National Security!
If they are missing 155 dogs then I think the chances are good that she’s selling pits to fighters. Makes me sick.
How long before they charge her with theft of Kapone?
I have just about lost hope that he is still alive mikken.
Oh. This sucks.
Good job, Mayor – now we have another count of animal cruelty to add to her charges for the dead dog because we didn’t want to move “too quickly” now, did we?
I hope Kapone’s family at least gets some kind of answer. Even if he’s dead, surely not knowing is worse.
This whole story gets stranger and stranger. And this woman (and her buddy who tipped her off) should be in a shitload of trouble. I just hope that they don’t sweep it under the rug. Wonder how the meeting is going.
I, too, don’t hold out much hope for finding Kapone alive, but I’d want to know at least. I so hope I’m wrong.
Who would be able to order an audit of the entire shelter workings for this year?
That would be the first step to a full house cleaning, I think.
This is unfreakingbelievable. NOW will MAS admit that they have more problems than a shiny new shelter can fix?!
Amazing. I can barely get a decent job in my city because I don’t speak French, yet all it takes in Memphis is to be a convict. Clearly I live in the wrong freaking country.
This whole thing is like a really, really bad nightmare. I am SO SO relieved that there are so many people involved who are NOT giving up.
oh no no no. oh poor kapone, i hope the family gets solid answers soon. it doesn’t sound very promising from the timeline.
jersey survived that heat though, so maybe kapone did too.
Another video clip tells of a possible sighting of Kapone.
http://eplayer.clipsyndicate.com/cs_api/iframe?pl_id=20604&page_count=5&wpid=9612&windows=1&tags=CCTVI_VIDEO_LOCAL,5709&show_title=0&va_id=2656854&auto_next=1&auto_start=0
If you click on upper right of the screen it will list other videos to view.
“With Pay”???? Are you feakin’ kidding me? Sounds like “paid vacation”
So what are they going to do with the other 3 second chance convicted felons now?
Probably promote them with pay raises…notice we haven’t heard AT ALL from Mr. Pepper?
The whole terrible mess stinks to high hell and Memphis Animal Shelter needs to fix all the bad and make it right, right now! The world is turning attention to this disgrace and everywhere you look people are posting news about MAS and asking why is this happening and who in charge is allowing this disgrace to continue. America could be a shining light and leader of best practice no-kill animal welfare and shelter, instead, MAS has become the biggest embarrassment and shame because of the collossal amount of death and cruelty towards innocent companion pets who deserved a second chance when they reached MAS, but were instead ‘lost’ in the rotten system or killed. Is there a US congress man or woman who could investigate and bring this situation under control? Surely a higher authority must step in now and turn things around, taxpayers in Memphis should be asking questions about where their money is going and why their city is being brought into disprepute because of unlawful practice. I hope Kapone will be found safe and well very soon.
Hogan’s attorney says she’s a scapegoat
http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2011/jul/14/memphis-animal-control-officer-charged-cruelty-sca/
Right. And her explanation for where Kapone is? Her explanation for why the dog died in the back of her truck while she was avoiding the police waiting for her at the shelter (duh, like they don’t know where you live!)?
If nothing else, this has really brought the spotlight onto the goings-on at MAS. She had to avoid cameras – good!
Now let’s see Matt Pepper declare a full and thorough revamping of how the shelter works, how staff is supervised, and how animals are treated there.
can’t use that link – it says its been moved or something? Is there another?
Works for me, Morgana.
Here – I tinyurl’d it for you –
http://tinyurl.com/6jtgbwo
see if that works better.
Maybe it’s something in the water– no offense meant to the good citizens of Memphis, but the guy in NYC who killed and dismembered that poor kid is a former Memphis butcher. Just sayin…..
I feel your comment is totally irresponsible and out of line, not to mention irrelevant.
Wow…just wow. This story just makes me madder and madder with each new piece of info that keeps coming. How disgusting is it that she went home without bringin the dogs in first! Poor Kapone probably died of de-hydration. I dont know how Jersey made it. As mentioned, MAS just needs to clean house from top to bottom and hopefully this will happen with the police getting involved in this kind of stuff. John and a few other workers/some volunteers can stay though. Is Jersey at least back home with his/her family?
Give a felon a “second” chance?
Yeah, sure. Flipping burgers. Weaving baskets. Assembling computers. Mayor’s personal assistant. Supreme Court law clerk for all I bloody care.
But UNDER SUPERVISION, people!
You transition jailbirds into civil society through employment where they are SUPERVISED and cannot easily fall back into rewarding criminal enterprises during working hours, or using the resources provided by the job.
You don’t give them easy access to re-sellable stuff, drugs, or tons of free time while on the clock.
You DO NOT give them a frikken’ truck of their own, the option of popping “home” whenever they wish, and access privileges of a law enforcement officer. So while they are “in pursuit of a loose dog” they are casing citizens’ houses with impunity. Picking up a few poorly-secured treasures out of the back yard and popping them into the truck (“I’ll just drop this at home before I bring puppy in …”)
And Memphis doesn’t have tracking devices on its official city vehicles? Really? You can just drive around in an ANIMAL CONTROL TRUCK all day and your boss has no way to track you, and the cops have no way to find you? Memphis doesn’t have the cheap technology used by the cable company and your larger pizza joints?
I had read that GPS was offered free to the city for the AC trucks but they declined. Cos you know, they can police themselves.
Not to mention…NOT TO MENTION giving them free access to dangerous Class C drugs!!!!! BIG street value.