Richard D. Carlile faces a judge today in Lewis County Superior Court.
By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
CHEHALIS – When Richard D. Carlile spoke with a sheriff’s deputy as he tried to retrieve his dogs from the animal shelter on Friday, he believed they’d broken their chains and wandered away from the camp where he lived in the woods outside Morton.
The 29-year-old said he’d searched for them for about one day and then packed up and moved to another location, according to court documents. He told the deputy he was homeless and had been living in the woods for quite some time.
He asked the deputy where was his elderly pitbull Fat Man and was told the dog was collected by a good samaritan almost a week earlier and the deputy himself picked up the two now at the shelter the following day.
Carlile said he couldn’t understand, because all his dogs were present and accounted for when he was with them at the camp Monday and Tuesday, court documents relate.
Carlile was charged today in Lewis County Superior Court with one count of first-degree animal cruelty and two counts of second-degree animal cruelty.
The case began on Saturday evening Sept. 24, when a woman called the sheriff’s office to say she’d discovered a dog chained to a tree in the forest. She believed it was left to die there.
The elderly pitbull couldn’t walk and could barely lift its head, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office.
The following day, Deputy Ezra Andersen, with the woman, returned to the area because she’d heard other dogs barking. There were two vacant tents and four other pitbulls tethered to trees.
Andersen found one bag of dog food, but it had water in it and a a significant amount of mold, according to court documents.
One of the dogs, a white and tan pitbull whose name was later learned to be Harley, appeared to be malnourished, with exposed ribs on both sides and defined vertebrae down his back, according to charging documents. His chain was no more than 18-inches long and while there was a water bucket, it contained a myriad of algae and other debris, the documents relate.
A white female pitbull, whose name turned out to be Chronic, was very skinny and the four to six-inch lead from her chain barely allowed her just barely to move from a standing position to laying down, according to the documents. She had a a skin irritation and redness around her face and ears, with oozing fluid around her eyes, Lewis County Deputy Prosecutor Joel DeFazio wrote.
She also had “copious” amounts of dirt on her spine, causing her to lose some hair and a raw spot on her tail, he wrote.
A pail with water about six feet away was in the same condition as Harley’s, according to DeFazio.
The deputy put the two dogs in the back of his patrol car and took them to the Lewis County Animal Shelter. The other two couldn’t be collected at that time because of their agitated and aggressive behavior and when deputies returned the following day, were gone, according to DeFazio.
The camp was about six miles from state Route 508, on Forest Service Road 73.
The animal shelter posted about the two found dogs and got a response from someone who said they belonged to her brother and he would pick them up on Friday.
Carlile went to retrieve them, and was arrested.
Carlile asked about Fat Man, the reddish, rust-colored male, and was told the woman who found him agreed to take care of him. He was emaciated, seemed to be suffering and had dirt and debris inside his mouth, DeFazio stated in court documents.
DeFazio wrote that Fat Man passed away two days after he was picked out of the woods. He suffered from slight malnutrition and dehydration as well as fleas an possible cancer, according to DeFazio.
In Lewis County Superior Court this afternoon, temporary defense attorney Joely O’Rourke described her client as living on social security disability payment, with no other income or assets.
As bail was discussed, the two lawyers noted he has no felony history, but had been arrested and convicted this year for driving under the influence.
Lewis County Deputy Prosecutor Paul Masiello asked the judge to hold Carlile on $5,000 bail.
O’Rourke asked for a $25,000 signature bond, co-signed by Carlile’s father. Carlile would go to live with his father and sister in Onalaska, she said.
His arraignment is set for Oct. 13.
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For background, read “News brief: Dogs found chained to trees in forest outside Morton” from Monday October 3, 2016 at 10:01 a.m., here
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