A dog owner has been charged with animal cruelty for leaving his puppy locked inside a broiling storage unit at Public Storage in Martinez.
Mark Greene, 42, was charged last Wednesday with cruelty to animals. He’s the same man cited by animal control for leaving the puppy in the cab of his truck while he was working at Kroger the day before.
The Brindle Mix puppy is named Scout and is shown here in this image from Columbia County Animal Services.
Deputies learned of the latest incident Aug. 20 when Robert Alford III of Augusta was visiting his storage unit and heard a dog whimpering. He and his girlfriend alerted the front desk employee, who called Greene.
From a sheriff’s report: “Mark told her there was no dog in his unit and he would not be able to respond until the following day.”
But the puppy continued to whimper when a deputy arrived at the storage unit facility on River Watch Parkway. After authorities could not reach Greene to come to the unit, the business owner gave permission to cut the lock since the owner had violated his agreement by housing a dog in the unit.
The puppy came running out of the sweltering unit, which felt like 100 degrees, Alford told The Jail Report. A deputy recorded an official temperature of 98 degrees since the unit had no air conditioner.
“I can’t believe someone would do that,” Alford said. “It’s just wrong. That person does not need to ever own an animal of any sort ever again. Hopefully, he does some time for that.”
The dog, a Brindle mix, was loose inside the storage unit, which was trashed and had a dog container with some containers for food and water. The dog had been there all day and wasn’t rescued until around 6:30 p.m., Alford said.
“You could tell the dog was malnourished,” Alford said. “So I was just glad we were able to get it out of there.”
Animal Control took custody of the animal and Greene was tracked down Wednesday and arrested. He has since bonded out.
Animal Control will have to hold the pet until the case goes to court, according to Columbia County Animal Services Manager Linda Glasscock. She is hoping Greene will sign over rights so they can put the animal up for adoption to a good home.
For more local crime news, pick up the current edition of The Jail Report, sold in local gas stations.
