(Editor’s note: This story has been updated to include updated information.)
FLINT, MI – A jury has found a 55-year-old Flint man guilty of starving a dog to death and torture and cruelty toward other dogs he owned.
Anthony Dewayne Polite has been convicted of two counts of killing/torturing an animal and one count of cruelty to 4-10 animals.
“This was one of the worst cases of animal cruelty that we have charged,” Genesee County Prosecutor David Leyton said in a statement. “All of us involved in this case found it to be heart-wrenching and unjustifiably inhumane and unimaginable.”
According to the Genesee County Prosecutor’s Office, animal control received a call from a person reporting that they saw a very thin dog in a fenced-in yard at a home on Jamieson Street in the city of Flint in December 2018.
Officers responded to the scene and saw several large dogs, which appeared to be emaciated.
When officers entered the property, they found six dogs all in various states of emaciation. They had no food, water, and only a minimal amount of straw was available for warmth. The temperature on that day was 34 degrees, prosecutors said.
The ground where the dogs were staying was described as solid mud over the feet of the dogs, indicating that they had been chained up in the same area for a duration of time. No fecal matter was found in the area.
One of the three female dogs was found dead with half its body laying inside a doghouse and half outside, prosecutors said. It was determined that the dog had recently given birth to eight puppies. The location of the puppies is not known.
Polite resisted arrest when officers tried to apprehend him, prosecutors said. After the arrest, another dog was found in a case inside the home.
Officers testified at trial that all the dogs showed emaciation with ribs, back ridge and hip bones being visible. One dog had a fully embedded collar in its neck, leaving a huge gash that always went all the way around the bottom of its neck.
Another dog had a collar that was in the early stages of being embedded. Several dogs had open sores. The dog inside the home had a severe infection on its ears from having them clipped.
Polite told officers, according to the prosecutor’s office, that he had been breeding and selling dogs since he was a teen.
“This case should send a strong message to our community that animal cruelty will not be tolerated and we will prosecute and hold accountable those who illegally harm and torture animals,” Leyton said.
Polite is scheduled for sentencing before 7th Circuit Court Judge Celeste D. Bell on Dec. 12.
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