On 01/28/2025, I was dispatched to a report of an animal complaint at [400 BLOCK] Nease Road Guyton, Ga. The complainant, wanted to remain anonymous, but asked that I check on 3 dogs over at this address. They were concerned about the welfare of the dogs due to being mistreated and the dogs being left out in the snowstorm the week prior.
I arrived at the residence and attempted to make contact at the front door. I knocked a couple of times but it did not appear anyone was home. I walked to the side of the house where there was an open garage attached to the residence. I called out loudly that I was with the Sheriff’s Office. I got no response. I saw an extension cord leading from that garage and into a smaller carport garage next to the residence. I noticed that the door to this garage was open and there was a light on inside. I walked to the garage and announced myself. Again, no one answered. I could see that there were some dog kennels in the back yard but there were no signs of any dogs. I started to turn back towards my truck in the driveway. At this moment, I smelled a foul odor of something deceased possibly coming from the woods or an area behind the carport.
I walked to the kennels to be sure there wasn’t a deceased dog in one of them. I did not see any dogs. I continued and a saw that behind the single section of privacy fence there were several Igloo type dog houses. I could not see this from the road originally due to the single line of wooden fencing that was blocking view of this area. I walked through the dog house area and did not see any dogs initially. I turned back towards the house/garage and saw a black and white mixed breed dog lying down next to a dog house. The dog was alive and slowly stood up once I made eye contact with it. The dog wagged its tail, so I approached. The dog was positioned in the corner of the wooden fence and the backside of the garage that I had just been standing at when I smelled the foul odor earlier.
This dog was visibly malnourished. It ribs and spine were easily visible from a distance. Its abdomen was tucked and sunken in on its sides. The pelvic bones on the dog were becoming prominent. It appeared to be lethargic a rigid in its movements. It had some difficulty standing up as I had approached just a moment earlier. I saw that the dog was tethered with a chain to some type of a metal vehicle axel that was staked into the ground. The chain was wrapped around the metal axel and the dog only had approximately an arm’s length of chain to move around. There was a water bucket to the side. The dog was not able to reach the bucket due to the chain only allowing the dog to move a certain distance from the stake. It did not appear that the dog would even have enough chain to be able to lay down in the dog house that was near the metal stake. This may explain why the dog was lying on the ground when I initially walked up and not inside it’s house. There were a couple of dirty blankets hanging outside of the igloo house.
I continued walking to check the other doghouses. I did not see any other dogs. I continued walking down the wooden fence to come around the opposite side I had initially entered from. I turned back to look overall at the doghouses and back yard. I visually scanned the area and looked out towards the wood line. At this moment, I saw what appeared to be a tan dog towards the wood line. Its legs were sticking up in the air. It appeared to be lying on its back. I approached the dog, and confirmed it was female and it was deceased. I gathered a couple of photos of the dog.
I walked back to the front driveway to my truck. I called Deputy Alex Gaston via phone and asked if he could apply for a search warrant for me. As I was talking to Gaston, a red truck pulled up in the driveway. A male exited the vehicle, later identified as Phillip Dickerson. I explained to Phillip that I had received a call about doing a welfare check on 3 dogs at this address. I asked Phillip if he had 3 dogs and he said yes. I asked if they were his dogs and if he cared for them. He said yes. I asked Phillip when he had last checked on the dogs. He said that he had fed and watered them that morning. He said they were all alright. I asked if Phillip had ever been arrested before or if we had ever had to come out to this location before. He said no. I asked again if he had ever been arrested and he said no.
I explained to Phillip how I initially made contact at the front door and ended up at the garage. I told him about the odor I smelled and that I ultimately ended up finding a deceased dog. He said that it was hit by a car in the road last Saturday. He pointed to over towards Nease Road. He said he had to get it out of the road. Phillip leaned against a flatbed truck that was in the driveway. There were metal objects sitting on it and he started moving the objects around. I asked what he was doing and he said just moving stuff. He put his hand on a metal pipe that was sitting on the flatbed. I got Phillip away from the flatbed truck and went ahead and placed him into handcuffs.
I read Miranda Warnings to him and he said that he understood his rights. He said that the yellow dog got off the tether and got hit. In reference to the third dog that was missing, Phillip said that it had run off and he hadn’t seen it since. He said that all the dogs were back there in the yard during the snow storm and they didn’t have any issues during the storm. I explained to Phillip that was going to be placed under arrest for animal cruelty at this time. I went on to explain about the black and white dog being too skinny. He said “yes ma’am”. I did explain to him that I was getting a search warrant for the property as well. He verbally acknowledged what I was telling him. I asked if Phillip had any weapons or drugs on him. He said no. I conducted a pat down just to be sure there were any obvious weapons.
I called for a transport unit. A female exited the front door of the residence, later identified as [WITNESS #1]. [WITNESS #1] apologized about not hearing me knock earlier and advised she had been in the kitchen. I explained to her why Phillip was under arrest and that there was at least one dog deceased. [WITNESS #1] looked at Phillip and said, I’m not getting you out this time. I wasn’t sure what she meant by “this time”. [WITNESS #1] did not seem surprised about a dog being deceased.
A transport unit arrived. Phillip was searched and transported to the jail.
I spoke to [WITNESS #1] further after Phillip had left. She told me that the three dogs were there before the snow storm. She said that she felt bad for the dogs because Phillip had not put out any straw or anything for them. [WITNESS #1] said that she gathered up several blankets and put them in the dog houses so that they would at least have something warm to lay down on.
She said that she went out there again after the night of the snow storm, which would have been 01/22/2025. One of the dogs, Snowball, was missing. She said Snowball was a black dog. She was under the impression that the dog had gotten loose and “ran off”. She said that there two other dogs there. One is a yellow dog, Dixie, and one is another black dog, she believed its name was Meatball. I told her that the deceased dog that I located was yellow/tan. She looked at me and appeared confused. [WITNESS #1] said, “you mean the black dog, Snowball?” I told her no. The deceased dog was the yellow one, Dixie. Tears immediately filled [WITNESS #1]’s eyes. She said that was her daughter’s favorite dog. Tears rolled down her face. I told her that the search warrant would be here soon and I would know more after that. She said she understood. I told her she could go back inside with her two young children. I told her I could come get her once we were done. She agreed and went back inside.
Once the search warrant was completed and Deputy Gaston arrived on scene, we walked the wood line area. I gathered pictures of the deceased tan dog. It was a female. It’s eyes were still intact which made me believe that it may have only been there for a few of days. We continued walking. I located a chicken in the chicken coop. It had been deceased for some time. It was almost fully decomposed. The coop was open and no live chickens were inside. They were all loose throughout the property. I looked back towards the wood line from the coop. I saw a black dog laying on its side. it was lying alongside a large fallen tree. The dog was malnourished and was clearly deceased. I approached the dog and smelled a faint foul odor. I believe this is most likely the dog that I smelled earlier. Its eyes were sunken in and no longer visible. I believed that this dog had been here longer than the tan dog. It was still laying on some ice that was left from the snowstorm. It’s ribs and spine was very visible. It had little to no muscle mass or fat. I gathered pictures of this dog as well, which I believed to be Snowball. It was a male dog, which was the same sex as Snowball.
I walked back up towards the driveway with Gaston. The keys were still inside the ignition of Phillip’s red truck. I went to grab the keys so that I could secure the truck and return the keys to [WITNESS #1]. I noticed a cell phone sitting on the front seat. I took the cell phone, which was still on, and placed it into an evidence bag to hold for further investigation. I know based on my knowledge, training, and experience that individuals store photos, videos, and messages on their phone which might, in this case, contain documentation on the dogs. These objects may potentially show the progression of neglect over time if Phillip had those photos or videos on his phone. I noticed that there was also an odor of marijuana coming from inside the vehicle. In the center console, there was a hand rolled cigarette containing a green leafy substance. Based on my knowledge, training, and experience, I suspected the substance to be marijuana. I collected the cigarette and to be submitted into evidence.
Gaston and I loaded up the black and white mixed breed dog. He was friendly and he allowed me to remove the chained tether so that I could attach my leash onto its collar. I walked the dog to the truck. It walked very slowly and I had to take short shuffled steps with it as we walked. It appeared to be very weak and walked with difficulty. Once we go the truck, I lifted the front of the dog and Gaston lifted the back end of the dog so that we could load the dog up into the kennel with care. Gaston took the dog to the Effingham Animal Shelter.
I continued to prepare to load the deceased dogs. I turned each dog over to its opposite side, gathered more photos, and secured each dog it its own plastic bag for transport. These dogs were then taken to the Effingham Animal Shelter where they were secured behind a locked gate and placed inside of a locked kennel. They were placed on ice to help preserve the bodies until they could be sent to the University of Georgia Athens Veterinary Lab for necropsy analysis.
Phillip was charged for aggravated animal cruelty for Snowball (deceased black dog) and also for animal cruelty (black and white dog named “Survivor” by the Animal Shelter staff). He was also charged with possession of marijuana (less than one ounce).
I submitted the suspected marijuana and Phillip’s cell phone into evidence for processing.
The investigations continues.
[End of Narrative]
From: The Georgia Gazette
