Marcella Corona

mcorona@rgj.com

Washoe County Sheriff's deputies arrested a 24-year-old man who is accused of allegedly dismembering dogs at a Reno motel, authorities said in a news release Thursday.

Authorities received a call shortly after 2 p.m. Tuesday from the motel manager whose staff reported suspicious activity in one of the rooms.

"A motel employee went into the room to clean and stepped out and called law enforcement," Undersheriff Tim Kuzanek said.

Upon arrival, deputies found the occupant of the room had left behind remains of several dogs, drugs and drug paraphernalia.

The number of dogs dismembered was not immediately known.

The sheriff's office and the Washoe County Regional Animal Services had launched an investigation and later identified Jason Brown of Reno as a suspect.

"We had information on a vehicle he was driving, which was in south Reno and he was stopped and taken into custody," Kuzanek said.

Brown was arrested Wednesday afternoon and charged with five felony counts of willful torture of an animal and one count of possession of a controlled substance. His bail has been set at $55,000.

Brown has yet to receive an attorney, according to the Washoe County Public Defender's Office.

"Our goal is to make sure the citizens of Washoe County know we're very concerned about these types of cases, and we're doing everything to investigate," Kuzanek said. "We're very early in the investigative process and we're working on locating witnesses, and we're doing everything we can to find where these animals came from."

Anyone with information is asked to contact the Washoe County Sheriff's Office Detective Division at 775-328-3320 or Secret Witness at 775-322-4900.