Rock Hill Police Make Arrest After 2 Dogs Found Dead, Chained To Tree

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The suspect in this case, Standford Bernard White, Jr., turned himself in to the Rock Hill Police Friday morning.

He is facing three charges related to animal cruelty.  He was given a $7,500 bond.

ORIGINAL STORY (Posted: October 22, 2019):

ROCK HILL, S.C. – Two dead dogs and one unhealthy dog were discovered at a home in Rock Hill Friday, and now Rock Hill Police are investigating.

Police got an animal complaint about a home on Frank Street. When they arrived, they say they found two dead dogs (one was brown, one was white) chained up to a tree. The police say the chain was wrapped all the way around a tree so the dogs couldn’t move when they were alive, and there was no food or water.

Police say the third dog, (black in color) was in a “small cage” with no food or water, and was “very skittish and underweight.”

Police then called Animal Control, and got a search warrant, so they could seize the animals.

The owner, whose name has been redacted from the police report, arrived on scene. Police say he was read his Miranda Rights and questioned about the animals. The owner said the brown dog had died the day before, and he was going to bury it after he got off work. He told police he didn’t know the white dog had died. The owner told police, they say, that he thought the dogs died from “not eating.” He told police he “feeds the dogs regularly, but they have fleas so bad that they will not eat or drink water.”

A Rock Hill Police officer asked him if he had taken the dogs to the vet, and he said he did not have the money to do that.

A warrant was brought to the residence, and animal control took custody of the dogs. An officer read the search warrant to the owner, police say, so the owner would “fully understand the situation.”

All the dogs were removed. The dead ones will be examined to determine the cause of death. The police say they will follow-up with the owner after the examinations.

The case is active.

Rock Hill Police tells WCCB there is no timeframe for when the dogs’ necropsy reports will be completed.