4 Found Living At Abandoned Animal Shelter
NORTH UNION TOWNSHIP (KDKA)--A man, woman and two 8-month-old babies were found living in squalor, and they weren't exactly living in a home.
KDKA's Mary Robb Jackson said the family had turned a shuttered animal shelters office into a makeshift apartment. When constables came to the address on North Gallatin Avenue, the stench was enough to give them the dry heaves.
Five state constables arrived at the now closed Steve Courson Humane Society Animal Shelter in North Union Township in Fayette County on the morning of July 13. The constables had multiple DUI arrest warrants for 37-year-old Richard Huey. Huey escaped while his wife was telling constables he was in Tennessee. But it was what they found inside the building that sickened them.
"Dog feces, five or six dogs running around, cats, urine all over the place, trash and flies," said Pennsylvania Constable Mark Pasquale.
The constables also discovered two 8-month-old babies. One child was the Huey's, while the other they were babysitting.
"The babies were actually in the back, in the kennel area, in strollers," Pasquale said.
Once a slaughter house in the 50's, there is little ventilation. The families were using a tub once used by dogs and there was no bedding for the baby's crib.
"We contacted Pennsylvania State Police, CYS, and a North Union code officer came over," said Pennsylvania Constable Phillip Michael.
Building code inspector Mike Garlowich condemned the building, but said the Huey's had been allowed to stay there by the shelter's board because Richard once worked there.
Gene Malowski, a shelter board member, showed up to take the remaining dogs to a vet.
"As far as I know he had permission, yeah," Malowski said about the Huey's living in the shelter.
Mary Robb Jackson then asked Malowski why he would let a family stay in an animal shelter.
Malowski's response, "I told you, I had no comment."
Richard Huey is still at large. His wife and child are with relatives, and the other baby that they were caring for is back with its parents.
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