LITTLE EGG HARBOR - Six people were bitten Monday by three loose dogs — the same dogs that have been involved in biting at least 12 residents over the last four months, township police said.

At around 2:15 p.m., police received a call reporting a dog bite in the area of Lake Winnipesaukee Drive, police said.

Arriving officers found a 69-year-old woman and a 40-year-old man with multiple dog bites from three dogs running loose around the area, police said. Over the next hour, police and residents frantically attempted to contain the dogs.

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Police said they are familiar with the situation, as there has been seven incidents with at least 12 residents being bitten by the same dogs.

See the video of the dog attack at the top of this story.

On Dec. 10, the dogs were removed by animal control, but later were returned to the owner, according to police.

Two days later, Esau Morales, the 26-year-old owner of the dogs, pleaded guilty to one count of failure to obtain a dog license with a $1,000 fine. Morales agreed to put up a fence and was only allowed to keep one of the three dogs, police said.

Police said that after reviewing audio transcripts in the court hearing, Morales had deceived the court and told or implied he was dog sitting and the "other two dogs were no longer in his possession."

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On Monday, after police contained the dogs, they were taken once again to animal control.

Following the incident, an animal control officer issued multiple violations to Morales, including one count of a dog declared potentially dangerous, three counts of dogs at large with the owner responsible for control, and three counts of failure to obtain a dog license.

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Scott Ruch, one of the victims in Monday's incident, said Morales "should never be allowed to have dogs," and feared that one of his nine kids could have been attacked.

"I will never be able to fully express the fear of being mauled by 3 dogs trained to attack," Ruch said. "They were going for my face and throat. They were bred and trained to do that. Those dogs were literally attacking anybody in the streets without discrimination. Had the school buses been early, a child would have been attacked."

"These officers should be lauded for their efforts," police said in the release. "We would like to extend our sympathies to the victims and all of the residents of that neighborhood. Yesterday's events were horrific, and nobody should live in fear of allowing their children to play outside, walk down the street or simply get the mail."

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Joshua Chung is the 9-5 breaking news reporter. A lifelong Jersey Shore resident, he is a recent graduate of Michigan State University. Contact him at jchung@gannettnj.com, 732-557-5748 or on Twitter @Joshchunggg