Wayne County Sheriffs raid River Rouge dog rescue

RIVER ROUGE, Mich. (WJBK) - Two dogs were confiscated in River Rouge on Wednesday from a dog rescue run by a man who last May was accused of leaving 17 dogs in a hot truck,

"These people are being harassed - they're animal lovers and this is crazy," claims attorney Danielle Cadoret.

Cadoret represents David McMurtrie, an ex-con who founded a dog rescue called Pit Stop for change several years ago then caught the attention of Tia Torres from the TV show Pit Bulls and Parolees. 

She funded a rescue for McMurtrie in New Orleans after the city of River Rouge closed them down for zoning violations.

But a few months ago, the relationship with Torres went south and in May, McMurtrie sent his dogs back to Michigan from New Orleans. That's when 17 of them were discovered without water in the back of a hot truck in a driveway in Ecorse. 

"The door on the truck was only open about six inches so the heat was trapped inside - there was no air flow it all," said Brian Daugherty with animal control for River Rouge and Ecorse last May.

The driver of the truck was charged in the case. Now McMurtrie is trying to get the dogs back. 

In the meantime, Tia Torres lashed out on Facebook. She's accusing McMurtrie of leaving the facility in New Orleans in horrible condition, posting disturbing photos showing the remains of dead dogs in the warehouse.

"They were kind of stuck with keeping deceased dogs in the back because Tia Torres was the one funding everything," Cadoret said. "So if you want to blame someone for deceased dogs sitting there, Blame Tia Torres."

Now during the raid Wednesday as Wayne County confiscated two dogs.

"The search warrant was for two dogs that the woman from Pit Bulls and Parolees said are hers," Cadoret said. "It's my understanding that both of those dogs are microchipped to either Dave McMurtrie or Pit Stop for Change, or both."

The Wayne County Prosecutor's office said this is all part of an ongoing investigation and they're not commenting right now. 

Also confiscated in the raid, according to the attorney, was a gun and prescription medication, but it's unclear what it all means for McMurtrie, his rescue and the dogs.

"It's just a bad situation - it's very sad - nobody's trying to hurt these dogs," Cadoret said.