The fight over the return of Chase, the dog who an Oregon State University student has refused to return to its original owner, has gotten even uglier.



Less than 24 hours after the arrest of 20-year-old Jordan Biggs under accusations of first-degree theft of the dog, Portland man Sam Hanson-Fleming has learned he won't be immediately reunited with the dog because he's being investigated for alleged animal abuse and neglect.

The Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office opened the investigation after Biggs' attorney, Geordie Duckler,

informed prosecutors Thursday of a person or people who’ve come forward to say Hanson-Fleming hit, kicked, bit and urinated on the dog and kept the dog “in an unclean environment with feces and urine.” In a news release sent to media by Duckler, Duckler said that “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.”





As a result, the prosecutor’s office has opened an investigation into allegations that “have at least a superficial credibility,” prosecutor Norm Frink wrote in an email. But, Frink said by phone Saturday, “I want to be clear, we’re not making final judgments here. ...We’re all going to have further discussions Monday.”

Duckler believes the investigation is why Corvallis Police have decided to postpone the return of the dog, who was taken into custody by the Heartland Humane Society in Corvallis last night.

Hanson-Fleming said he was told by a Corvallis Police officer at 7 p.m. Friday -- moments after Biggs’ arrest -- that he could pick up his dog as soon as the Heartland Humane Society in Corvallis opened at noon Saturday. He was on his way to the humane society, when he got a call from police saying he wouldn't be allowed to pick up the dog Saturday after all.

Hanson-Fleming said Saturday that all of the allegations of animal abuse and neglect against him are lies conjured up by Biggs’ camp, who desperately want the dog to stay with the college student.

“They’re just trying to turn the tables on me,” Hanson-Fleming said.

“I’ve never hit Chase, I’ve never kicked him,” Hanson-Fleming said. “The only thing I’ve done is swatted him with a rolled up newspaper” to discipline him for chewing on some shoes, he said.

Hanson-Fleming said allegations that Chase “was left in a small cage for two days without food or water,” are also untrue. He said he’d left the dog in the care of his roommate overnight, and that his roommate placed Chase in his kennel with food and water overnight because he was angry with the dog for chewing on some shoes. Hanson-Fleming said when he returned and learned the dog had been confined for so long, he was irate.

“That was the start to the end of our friendship,” Hanson-Fleming said, of his relationship with his roommate.

In Duckler's news release, Duckler references Hanson-Fleming’s Oregon criminal history, which includes two felony convictions for delivery of a controlled substance and delivery of marijuana for payment when Hanson-Fleming -- who is now 30 -- was 18 and 19.

Ducker said Hanson-Fleming’s Oregon criminal history alone didn’t raise alarms about whether he was fit to be a pet owner. But Duckler said he only had the ability to check Oregon’s criminal database. So he hired a private investigator.

“I thought if I saw he has felony convictions in Oregon that weren’t animal related, it’d be worth finding out if he has any animal-related convictions in any other state,” Duckler said.

Duckler didn’t find any. But Duckler said in the meantime, he received calls from members of the public who knew Hanson-Fleming and said Hanson-Fleming abused and neglected his dog.

Duckler said his client was arrested Friday evening, as she was on a walk with the dog she has renamed “Bear.”

“She didn’t know they were coming,” Duckler said. But, “it was all fairly calm.”

Biggs later called Duckler. “She was upset,” he said.

Meanwhile, Hanson-Fleming received the call from police Friday evening, and was elated. He’d created a Facebook page for his dog , and posted the news moments later. Chase’s friends responded with gushing, congratulatory remarks.





Hanson-Fleming said the custody fight had gone from really bad to even worse earlier in the week. He said on Wednesday afternoon, a man who said he was a former Portland police detective and "close friends" with the Biggs family showed up on his doorstep. The man offered him $1,000 to give up the custody fight, but Hanson-Fleming responded with an adamant "no," Hanson-Fleming said.





"He said 'You're never going to see your dog again,'" Hanson-Fleming said.





Hanson-Fleming thinks the timing of events is strange: The next day, Biggs' attorney approached the district attorney's office with the allegations of animal abuse and neglect.



Hanson-Fleming had waited for Biggs’ arrest for more than two months.

Hanson-Fleming adopted Chase in December 2009. On March 27, 2011, Chase jumped over the backyard fence of Hanson-Fleming’s Southeast Portland home. Hanson-Fleming searched for the dog -- taping up fliers around his neighborhood, posting ads on Craigslist, filing a lost dog report with Multnomah County Animal Services and repeatedly visiting animal services in hopes his dog would turn up.

Biggs found the dog the same day Hanson-Fleming says the dog escaped. She has told police and the Corvallis Gazette-Times that she tried to find the dog’s owner by calling the Oregon Humane Society and animal services, but after two months and no owner coming forward, she figured the dog was hers. She said she spent thousands of dollars training him as her service dog. She has asthma.

Biggs has declined to speak with The Oregonian.

Hanson-Fleming chanced across Chase in Biggs’ SUV on May 13, 2012 while waiting in a line of cars for coffee in Southeast Portland. Biggs initially seemed cooperative, Hanson-Fleming said, but within two days said she wouldn’t return the dog. Hanson-Fleming called police and prosecutors in Portland and Corvallis. He also called Multnomah County Animal Services.

She and her attorney didn’t respond to requests for information from Mike Oswald, animal services director. Last week, Oswald determined that Biggs didn’t file a lost-dog report with animal services or follow the steps outlined under Multnomah County code and state law to take legal ownership of the dog.

Oswald ruled that Hanson-Fleming was the dog’s legal owner.

Biggs, however, still wouldn't return the dog. That led to Friday evening’s arrest and seizure of the 2 ½-year-old husky-shepherd mix.

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