We’ve spent quite a bit of time on The Victoria Taft Show on the Chase the dog fiasco. The dog wandered away from his yard in SE Portland in March of 2011 and the next time Samuel Hanson Fleming saw his pup again was more than a year later when he saw his dog in a neighboring car in the drive up line at a Dutch Brothers Coffee kiosk. Hanson Fleming’s been fighting to get the dog back ever since.
Jordan Biggs, the young woman who took the dog without, it appears, ever trying to find his owner, within hours simply took the dog back to Corvallis with her where she’d been attending
school. She claims she’s turned the dog which she named “Bear” into an asthma service dog. When I talked to Multnomah County about the case they claimed they’d never heard of an asthma service dog.
Biggs is now been charged with stealing the dog. On Friday she was charged in Benton County with first degree theft.
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| Dog Thief Sans Halo |
Late Friday her attorney Geordie Duckler, of Bucky and Snowball fame, and a friend of the show, sent out a press release about his client’s arrest. It was a 17 paragraph “news release.” Sixteen of the ‘graphs were spent heaping all kinds of dirt at Hanson Fleming. See it at the bottom of this post.
Duckler claimed Hanson Fleming abused Chase by urinating on him, kicking him, keeping him in a dirty house–all charges, by the way, Hanson Fleming denies. Listen to interviews with both Geordie Duckler and Hanson Fleming HERE.
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| Hanson Fleming |
Hanson Fleming now has attorney who has stepped in pro bono to help him navigate the brewing animal abuse case against him. Hear the interview with James McCurdy HERE.
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| Rob Dyrdek and his Skateboarding Dogs |
In my interview with McCurdy I took up the issue of media coverage of this story. I contend that the newspapers are going out of their way to depict the dog thief as an angel–just look at the photo–complete with the phony ‘service dog’ coat! And what do we know of Hanson Fleming? Just that he looks like he could be part of G-Unit or on the crew of Rob Dyrdek’s Fantasy Factory.
FR: Geordie Duckler, attorney for Jordan Biggs
DT: 7/20/12
1. This afternoon, Norman W. Frink, the Chief Deputy District Attorney at the Multnomah
County District Attorney’s Office, opened an active investigation into allegations of animal abuse
and neglect against Samuel Hanson Fleming regarding the dog Chase. These allegations are
currently under official investigation in cooperation with the Portland Police Bureau.
2. The Multnomah County District Attorney’s office has looked into the matter sufficiently to
determine that the allegations “have at least a superficial credibility”, including that:
• The dog was left in a small cage for two days without food or water. At the end of the
two days the dog had to be released by a third party;
• Hanson-Fleming kicked the dog;
• Hanson-Fleming hit the dog;
• Hanson-Fleming urinated on the dog;
• Hanson-Fleming bit the dog;
• That the dog was kept in an unclean environment with feces and urine.
3. Even more specifically, competent eyewitness testimony, recorded statements, private
documents, and court records compiled by a private investigation through my office indicate the
following:
4. Hanson-Fleming is a repeat offender drug dealer with three felony convictions in Oregon, two
for drug-related crimes in 2000, and one for criminal mischief in 2003. He has served time in
prison for the crimes and has violated probation conditions with each conviction.
5. Hanson-Fleming also has a 2009 misdemeanor conviction in Oregon for furnishing alcohol to
a minor.
6. Hanson-Fleming regularly kept the dog “Chase” in a bare metal cage that was far too small for
the dog, often without any food or water at all for lengthy periods of time, and always without
adequate ventilation, bedding, or sanitation. No vet care of any type was ever provided to the
dog, and it was never provided any required treatment or vaccinations.
7. Hanson-Fleming frequently urinated on the dog “Chase” in order to show the dog “who was in
charge”.
8. Hanson-Fleming regularly kicked, slapped, beat, and hit the dog “Chase” with his fists in
order to show the dog “who was in charge”. He also instructed his minor grade-school child to
treat the dog in the same manner.
9. Hanson-Fleming regularly bit the dog “Chase” with his own mouth in order to show the dog
“who was in charge”.
10. Hanson-Fleming regularly and deliberately made the dog “Chase” inhale significant amounts
of marijuana smoke in order to amuse himself and his friends, and to psychologically torment the
dog.
11. Hanson-Fleming regularly kept the dog “Chase” in a malnourished and weakened state and
without adequate nutrition, and refused to bathe or clean the dog or provide it any form of
exercise such that the dog was constantly immersed in a sickening odor.
12. Hanson-Fleming refused to remove any feces or urine from the dog’s environment and
regularly kept the dog “Chase” in conditions of extreme filth and ill health both inside the dog’s
cage and inside the apartment itself, where several witnesses observed fecal matter constantly
lying in large piles around both the dog and the apartment.
13. Hanson-Fleming either left without paying the rents owed to, or was forcibly removed from,
several different houses and apartments by landlords each time he would refuse to clean up the
compiled and compacted accumulations of dog feces and urine from the premises.
14. Several visitors to Hanson-Fleming’s apartment directly witnessed his abuse and torment of
the dog “Chase”, referring to the living conditions for the dog as a “pigsty”, “disgusting”, and
“wretched” and his treatment of the dog as “terrible”, “inhumane”, and “irresponsible”.
15. Hanson-Fleming has openly bragged to numerous co-residents and neighbors about his
deliberate abuse and torment of the dog “Chase”. He has also been repeatedly deceitful to others
about his purpose in having the dog and his history with the dog.
16. Hanson-Fleming inadequately supervised the dog “Chase”, and the deplorable conditions in
which it lived drove it to escape from Hanson-Fleming’s control numerous times.
17. Ms. Biggs was arrested and charged with a theft offense this evening by Corvallis Police
Department. While she was then released, officers also seized the dog “Bear” who was with Ms.
Biggs at the time of the arrest and have threatened to give the dog to Hanson-Fleming. The
department has been made aware of the above information.
