EFFORT — A West End woman faces criminal charges for allegedly letting her aggressive dogs terrorize her neighbors and their pets. Mary Jo Dredger, 55, of Effort, was charged May 28 with four counts of reckless endangerment.

Dredger’s dogs are accused of killing seven cats, two dogs and seriously injuring at least one other dog in the area of David Lane. Several neighbors also reported being chased by Dredger’s canines between July 2017 and May 2019, with at least one person receiving a bite.

An affidavit from the Pennsylvania State Police catalogues a minimum of 26 separate incidents involving Dredger’s dogs, which were in most cases found roaming unsupervised on neighboring properties. Dredger has been charged previously for several of those incidents.

Here are summaries of some of the most violent attacks, with the victims’ names omitted for privacy.

July 2017

A woman and her two-year-old son were swimming in the pool of their David Lane home sometime in July 2017 when Dredger’s dark-colored dog reportedly charged the mother. The two swimmers fled inside the house to evade the animal and escaped without injury.

The woman told police of the incident in a May 9, 2019 phone interview, though she had not previously reported the attack.

February 2018

On Feb. 19, 2018, a man reported to police around 5:45 p.m. that he and his wife were attacked by three dogs on their Barrys Road property. Dredger was charged with a leash law violation as a result of that report.

May 2018

On May 7, 2018, around 7:45 p.m., a man and a woman alerted police that three dogs had just attacked their own dog outside of their Eastbrook Road home. The couple told police in a later interview that four of Dredger’s dogs — a black one, a brown and white one, a black and white one, and a cream-colored one — had entered their yard.

The brown and white dog and the cream-colored dog were allegedly the ones responsible for biting the couple’s dog, while the black dog had tried unsuccessfully to attack the woman. The couple’s dog required two surgeries as a result of the attack.

Dredger was charged at that time with three separate leash law violations, according to court dockets.

A woman who was previously knocked down by one of the dogs also reported a May 17 incident in which she was bitten by a loose dog outside her David Lane home. That woman told police in a follow-up interview that she was attacked by three of Dredger’s dogs on that occasion. She described the animals as boxers — not pit bulls, as other victims had described them — and that Little Man, the brown and white dog, was the primary aggressor.

Police charged Dredger with a leash law violation for that incident also.

July 2018

A couple living on Barrys Road reported a July 4, 2018 incident in which they discovered their adult cat and its five kittens killed inside a tent in their driveway. Another neighbor later reported seeing two aggressive pit bulls loose in the area on that day.

The couple also reported an incident on July 23 in which three of the dogs were again seen on their property.

October 2018

A mail carrier for the U.S. Postal Service contacted state police on Oct. 3, 2018 to report that he was being chased by one of Dredger’s dogs. The carrier, having serviced that route for some time, was familiar with and weary of the animals.

That carrier told police he was unable to deliver mail on that day as a result of the confrontation. The dog purportedly chased his mail truck, biting at its tires and preventing the carrier from safely exiting the vehicle.

Dredger was charged with a leash law violation on that occasion also.

December 2018

On Dec. 12, 2018, a Lower Mountain Drive resident contact police to report that three dogs entered her property and attacked her two-year-old, 30-pound sheltie-German-shepherd mix dog. The sheltie mix died as a result of its injuries. Dredger was charged with multiple summary offenses for dog bites and leash law violations.

April 2019

A man on April 18, 2019, reportedly witnessed two of Dredger’s dogs attack his tiger-striped cat in front of his Cameron Road home. The man told police that a black pit bull was mauling his cat while another brown and white pit bull stood nearby.

The man successfully chased the dogs off his property, but the cat died as a result of the attack. He told police that Dredger’s family later drove by to apologize for the incident. He also said he now keeps his own dog with him at all times and has several baseball bats around his property for defense.

Separately, on April 23, a woman contacted police to report three of Dredger’s dogs running loose on her Lower Mountain Drive property. Another neighbor at that time told police that three of Dredger’s dogs had recently attacked and killed his dog while trespassing on his Westbrook Road property.

Most recent charges

Dredger has a formal arraignment scheduled for August 14 before President Judge Maggie Worthington of the Monroe County Court of Common Pleas.