LONG ISLAND, N.Y. (PIX11) – Two North Carolina men were arrested on Friday for keeping 19 puppies in a car with no food or water, a spokesperson for the Suffolk County Police Department announced Saturday.
Officers on patrol approached a 2022 Jeep Compass in a parking lot on Merritt Avenue in Wyandanch and noticed the two men in the vehicle with a 2-year-old and the pit bull puppies separated in two crates. The puppies were without sufficient air, shelter, food, and water, police said. They were also covered in feces, police said.
Russel Brown, 67, and Jamer Belle, 28, were arrested. Police also found two loaded firearms in the car, officials said.
Brown and Belle were charged with 19 counts of neglect of an impounded animal, one count of criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree, and one count of criminal possession of a firearm. They were also charged with endangering the welfare of a child.
The 2-year-old was placed in the custody of Child Protective Services, police said.
