Oregon woman jailed for refusing to return dog to owner she says abused him
An Oregon State University student was jailed on a theft charge after she refused to relinquish the dog she found in Portland earlier this year.
Jordan Biggs, 20, was booked into a Corvallis jail Friday, and later released — but without the dog she calls Bear.
Bear, or Chase, as he was previously known, is in the custody of animal control as officials look into the claims of the Portland man who says he’s the original owner and allegations that he treated the dog in an abusive manner.
Biggs has said she found the dog earlier this year in Portland and took him with her to Corvallis. She trained the dog to assist her when she has an asthma attack, according to the Corvallis Gazette-Times
When she returned to Portland for a visit in May, the original owner spotted the dog and asked that Siberian husky mix be returned.
When she declined, Sam Hanson-Fleming, 30, filed a complaint with police.
Biggs, meanwhile, hired animal rights attorney Geordie Duckler, who has filed a civil suit alleging Hanson-Fleming was abusive to the dog and asking a judge to grant custody to his client. The Multnomah County District Attorney’s has opened an investigation into whether Hanson-Fleming was abusive toward the pet.
Duckler said the dog would remain at a humane society shelter in Corvallis while the Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office investigates the allegations.
Hanson-Fleming told The Oregonian in Portland on Saturday that the allegations of animal abuse and neglect are false: “I’ve never hit Chase, I’ve never kicked him. The only thing I’ve done is swatted him with a rolled up newspaper,” he said.
Duckler said a private investigation through his office revealed Hanson-Fleming kicked, slapped, beat and urinated on Chase in order to show “who was in charge.”
The lawyer also said Hanson-Fleming regularly kept the dog in a cage that was too small, and that he regularly made the dog “inhale significant amounts of marijuana smoke in order to amuse himself and his friends.”
(Photo: Jordan and the dog she calls Bear; by Amanda Cowan / The Corvallis Gazette-Times)
Posted by jwoestendiek July 24th, 2012 under Muttsblog.
Tags: abused, animals, arrest, asthma, attorney, bear, chase, corvallis, custody, dispute, district attorney, dog, dogs, found, geordie duckler, investigation, jail, jailed, jordan biggs, lost, mistreated, mix, multnomah county, neglected, oregon state university, ownership, pets, portland, private investigator, sam hanson-fleming, service dog, siberian husky, student, theft
Comments
Comment from Sarahkate
Time July 24, 2012 at 1:03 pm
Should also add that if she can get the theft charges dismissed and goes for a specified period of time with no further similar activity (not even a traffic or parking ticket) that at some future point she can petition the court for expungement of her arrest record. I have to say that having worked in the legal field for nearly three decades including for a local city prosecutor, IMO police in this state are little more than jackbooted thugs who are given to arresting first (or worse – shooting first) and asking questions later. Unless there is FAR more to this story than appears in local media, no way should this young woman have been arrested or booked into the Benton County jail.
Comment from RightIsRight
Time July 24, 2012 at 3:55 pm
OMG….you are frigging kidding me Sarakate…. Facts are facts. Chase jumped the fence wearing a collar and tags and dog license as is required by law. Litte brat found dog, in her own lawsuit, claims someone else in the neighborhood put a temporary tag and collar on the dog the day prior when he was found wandering lost…really?? who has spare tags and collars to put on a lost dog, and then send it out back wandering lost instead of taking it to the humane society or calling animal control. 5 days later, brat takes dog back to Corvallis. While owner of dog puts out lost dog fliers, lost dog ad on craigs list, and calls animal control and humane society, and has PROOF he did so? And last week, former cop, and partner to CW Jenson, google him, former dirty cop who is posting on behalf of dog thief….goes to Sam’s door, telling him he is friends with the DA of Multnomah County, and the Piggs family, and he will never get his dog back, and offers him $1,000 to forget everything….he refused. Hmmm wonder how much $$ is being paid to those making these allegations now? And from what I hear, an ex wife, and ex roomate are among those accusing….yea…ex anything are always reliable and truthful about their ex’s. And further….were these complaints made in the past…and if so…why no charges then, and why wasn’t the dog taken away then? They are slinging mud wherever the can and hoping it will stick. Like a rapist saying their victim deserved it. And give us a break…she claims the dog is her service dog for asthma….yet she did track and field in high school along with soccer, and did hood to coast…..she is such a manipulative liar…..
Comment from RightIsRight
Time July 24, 2012 at 3:56 pm
Also…..Biggs didn’t follow county law with what is required when you find a lost dog. And she also failed to obey the law and license and tag the dog, until the day after his real owner found him!!!! Yea….hope the felony sticks on her…..and hope she does get in trouble with the school.
Comment from IamIrene
Time July 25, 2012 at 12:39 pm
FYI: Ms. Biggs found Chase/Bear the same day he went missing, March 27, 2011 (NOT “earlier this year”).
The article you posted is wrong in certain details and omits that when Mr. Hansen-Fleming (the legal and rightful owner determined by the director of Multnomah Co. Animal Svcs) happened to see Chase/Bear in the car behind him at a coffee drive-thru, he called to him and Chase/Bear jumped through the window into his arms!
Mr. Hansen-Fleming then did a really magnanimous thing in allowing Ms. Biggs to take Chase/Bear home for two additional days to say his goodbyes. Ms. Biggs completely reneged on her promise to return Chase/Bear and at THAT time had him licensed and chipped!
I’d be really interested to see the receipt for that service dog coat in the above picture. I’d be willing to bet that it was purchased AFTER she ran into Hansen-Fleming as a ruse to keep the dog!
The twists and turns in this case are almost unbelievable! Were you aware, for instance, that just last week, a family friend of the Biggs (who is also a retired PDX Police Officer with ties to the local DA’s office) went to Mr. Hansen-Fleming’s house and tried to bribe him with $1,000 to drop the case all together!? And when Mr. Hansen-Fleming refused, the retired officer threatened him saying, “You’ll never see your dog again!” and THAT is when the abuse allegations came out! Interesting timing there.
With all due respect, Sarahkate, Ms. Biggs is the reason this is becoming so awful for everyone.
I’ll repost here what I posted on another article: “A CRIME HAS BEEN COMMITTED. It is because of her [own] actions that Ms. Biggs will never get the dog back now!
Ms. Biggs would not do the CLEARLY right thing from the beginning, starting with filing a PROPER “found dog” report with Multnomah Animal Control! She has cheated herself out of what potentially could have been a great friendship and welcomed visits by Mr. Hanson-Fleming.
If she’d brought the dog back AS SHE PROMISED SHE WOULD, how different ALL of this could have been! They might even have even become good friends! It’s so sad. I really wish Ms. Biggs had an ounce of integrity. Even an ounce of integrity would demand the return of Chase to the RIGHTFUL owner, Mr. Hanson-Fleming.
Some questions to ponder: Why did Ms. Biggs wait until that fateful day, when Mr. Hanson-Fleming found Chase in Ms. Biggs car, to get “Bear” licensed and chipped? Aren’t service dogs required to be licensed before entering training?
You know, my brother has suffered from life-threatening asthma his entire life…when I told him about this story he just about fell over laughing at the idea of a service dog for asthma, then he had an asthma attack from laughing so hard – but it’s all good, he had his inhaler handy. Oh, and he couldn’t participate in field & track as a kid. He did play a bit of football, but that only lasted a year as he wasn’t able to compete at the level required, you know, because of his asthma.”
Comment from Miss Jan
Time July 25, 2012 at 10:05 pm
Hmmm. “Right is Right” where did you get your facts shmooshed together and splatted all over haphazardly in your diatribe?
IAmIrene – there are dogs who can alert to an amazing variety of human conditions. Not every dog can but many seem to be able to figure out something is wrong with their human and alert to it. And – being an asthma sufferer myself I sincerely doubt that your brother brought on an attack by laughing too hard. Perhaps he has an additional health issue that should be evaluated. AND there are asthmatics who participate in track and field AND football, and it is too bad your brother’s asthma is not being managed well enough through his physician’s or his own efforts to allow him a more active life.
Comment from Jocelyn
Time July 26, 2012 at 9:54 pm
I am a student at Oregon State University. I first saw Bear and Jordan walking on campus in September of 2011. Bear has been wearing his service jacket everytime I have seen him. Everyone who is saying she just went out and bought this vest tickles me silly. I guess if you have nothing better to do why not make up silly stories. He goes to class, the gym and walks around campus with Jordan and that’s a fact (there’s an idea… using facts and not just making things up!).
Comment from Oregon
Time July 27, 2012 at 4:29 am
Mr. Frink, every day that goes by while this ridiculous smear campaign against Mr. Hanson-Fleming carried on by your office and the Biggs is allowed to continue is one less day that a homeless dog is allowed to live at the shelter before being put to sleep.
Chase has a home, a rightful home, and you are wasting my taxpayer money sorting through sour grapes in your quest to wrong Mr. Hanson Fleming.
How does that sit with you, Mr. Frink? Another dog is dead today because you are taking up precious space and resources at the shelter with your corrupt charade.
Comment from bs
Time July 31, 2012 at 7:43 pm
i think it is libel to publish unproven allegations like the abuse you speak of here. this case has gone on for over a year and these “abuse allegations” just came up in the last two weeks. it is just sad to me as a pet owner that a site that claims to love animals would publish that kind of crap without vetting it.
Comment from Kate-Skate
Time August 2, 2012 at 9:05 pm
If I were Hanson-Fleming, I would back away from my frivolous lawsuit. I personally know nothing about any party involved, but as an animal lover, I have followed the career of Geordie Duckler, Biggs’ attorney. I sincerely doubt that Mr. Duckler would allege such terrible things about Hanson-Fleming without having affidavits from reliable witnesses that such charges of animal abuse are true. Duckler would not go out on a limb like this without having his affairs in order. Give it up, thug — you’ll have to drag yourself back to Multnomah County Animal Control and pick up a new dog to abuse — and MCAC will happily let him do it, more’s the pity.
Comment from IamIrene
Time August 9, 2012 at 2:08 pm
Wow, Kate-Skate, you “personally know nothing about any party involved” and yet you presume that Duckler is such a power to be reckoned with that Hansen-Fleming should just tuck tail and run? Duckler is an idiot. Here’s proof for you: http://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/oregon/ordce/3:2011cv00329/101932/44/ and a Duckler quote from another article: “Duckler said “The client brought it to my office — I can still see it walking down the hallway — and we videotaped my four-year-old daughter sitting nose-to-nose with this five-and-a-half-foot-long alligator to prove that it wasn’t dangerous.” (http://www.osbar.org/publications/bulletin/08febmar/AnimalLaw.html) How STUPID do you have to be to allow AN ALLIGATOR within reach OF HIS OWN 4 YR OLD DAUGHTER! I’m not at all concerned, the firm representing Hansen-Fleming has a steller record and also something called ETHICS…
Comment from sparks
Time August 14, 2012 at 6:59 pm
Thanks to “IamIrene” and “rightisright” for some of the details on this case. I’ve been trying to make some sense of things in this case beyond what the mainstream media provided. It was clear to me from the start that this woman picked up what she thought to be a stray dog, did little to nothing to find it’s owner, took it to a whole new city, and then refused to give it back like a childish and entitled little snot. And now to get her way she’s accusing him of abuse – and how many months later? Give me a break.
Thanks for filling in the piece about the dog’s reaction at the drive-in because that was one of my big questions and to me that is pretty telling. I really hope this guy gets his dog back.
Comment from IamIrene
Time October 4, 2012 at 7:41 pm
BTW, Chase got to go back home today with his rightful and legal owner, Sam Hanson-Fleming. Chase appeared OVERJOYED to be with Sam again.
http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2012/10/portland_man_and_dog_reunited.html
Comment from Sarahkate
Time July 24, 2012 at 12:57 pm
I’m in Oregon and in this awful state (awful for really lax enforcement of animal cruelty laws) if anyone can get justice for this dog and keep him with Jordan, Geordie Duckler can. He will have an uphill battle, unfortunately. The way things are done in Oregon – well truly bizarre and lacking in common sense would describe what goes on around here. The really sad thing is that Oregon State University may even look at expelling Jordan under OSU’s student conduct code and she needs to talk to her campus student advocacy office (it is independent and not subject to OSU governance and has a staff attorney representing students — and it’s free) about protecting her status. Good luck to Jordan and good luck to Geordie Duckler, he has his work cut out for him. The one thing that I hope he focuses on is finding traces of the active ingredient in marijuana in the dog’s body because even in this benighted state the authorities don’t look kindly on animals being forced to ingest drugs. Finally, depending on just how Jordan knew the former owner, she may have direct knowledge or know witnesses with direct knowledge of how he treated people and as most animal abusers also treat humans very badly at some point, the DA’s office might be extremely interested in that part too.