The Northeast Portland man who has been fighting for more than two months for the return of his dog now has an attorney who is representing him free of cost.

After hearing about Sam Hanson-Fleming's fight to get his lost dog back and a lawsuit filed against him July 11,

The news comes on the heels of the arrest of Jordan Biggs, a 20-year-old Corvallis college student who found the husky-shepherd mix in Southeast Portland in March 2011, the same day Hanson-Fleming says the dog jumped a fence in his back yard. Hanson-Fleming chanced across Biggs and his dog, Chase, in May 2012, but Biggs refused to return the dog.

She has filed a lawsuit to get a judge to declare the dog hers.

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Friday, Biggs was arrested under accusations of the first-degree theft of the dog. Her first appearance in Benton County Circuit Court is scheduled for Aug. 2.

Corvallis police seized the dog. The dog will remain with the Oregon Humane Society -- at least until the humane society and Portland Police Bureau conclude an investigation into whether Hanson-Fleming abused the dog.

The day before Biggs' arrest, her attorney presented the Multnomah County District Attorney's Office with reports from a person or people who said Hanson-Fleming hit, kicked, bit and urinated on the dog.

Monday, prosecutor Norm Frink couldn't offer a specific timeline for the investigation or the return of the dog. But Frink said they "hope to do it as quickly as possible, consistent with doing it thoroughly."

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