In June, Tom Siesto, and Elizabeth Rahb of Queens New York, brought their three year old Rottweiler, Nitro, to High Caliber K-9 in Youngstown. Nitro, was a healthy one hundred pound dog at the time. They brought him here for boarding and training. And as far as they knew, everything was going well.
Elizabeth tells us, "We called every two weeks, he said there is no problem, he's eating well. His general health is good. His obedience is doing very well."
For the past two weeks the couple has been trying to reach the owner of High Caliber, Steven Croley, to arrange an appointment to pick up there dog. Then over the weekend, they come to find out the shocking news that dogs were starving to death that were being boarded at the kennel.
Elizabeth added, "This is so horrific, it's overwhelming. But not to know whether my dog was dead, alive, or if he's in here clinging to life, because he wasn't even given water?"
So they decided to drive here, not knowing what had become of their dog. Croley, who ran the kennel, told humane agents last week, that he couldn't afford to take care of the dogs.
Elizabeth says that's no excuse, "This excuse of hard times, is absolutely unacceptable. My dog is now half the size. I just viewed him, he's dead. He's half the size, animal charities thought that he was a doberman, not even a Rottweiler."
The dog owners hope that Croley, gets the same treatment their dog did.
Tom emotionally added "This is horrific, to not feed an animal, this man should go to jail and not be fed forever."
Steven Croley is due back in court next month, for a pretrial hearing, on four counts of animal cruelty.
