Running for Cover in Waukegan

Now technically the Wags 2 Wishes Animal "Rescue" isn't actually in Waukegan, Illinois.  But the story that brings them to front page news is centered there so Waukegan gets the glory.   Yeah, Waukegan!   The story started off with the news media including CBS and NBC reporting that a former Marine had been arrested for having a litter of puppies.  The day before the Christmas Holiday.  Can anything get more Scrooge-like than that?   The Lake County News-Sun alone has 127 comments to their article and going.  You can read them here.   Given the massive public outcry against the puppies being seized away from their family and given away to an animal resale group, I decided to cover the story as well.  My first story, When Christmas Puppies bring Jail Time, has gone viral too.   Together the media reporting on this story touched a nerve and the American public has revealed that they are getting pretty sick and tired of these pet flipping groups going after dog breeders.  

After I published my first article, many readers pointed out that Wags 2 Wishes wasn't quite all that and a bucket of peanuts either.  They sent me many screen captures and pieces of information about Illinois law and the Wags 2 Wishes legal standing.  I then published my second article on the situation focusing on Wags 2 Wishes and the fact that they were listed as being in "not good standing" with the State of Illinois.  That is a fact.  Here is the screen capture yet again to prove it.

   
As the story was going viral around social media, I published a third story to point out the legal aspects of this case.  That story, A Loss of Justice in Waukegan, Illinois can be viewed here.   But I wasn't the only one covering this story.   Didi Culp covered the story for the Examiner in her story called Civil Forfeiture includes Dogs.   The National Animal Interest Alliance covered the story which they called (Puppy) Theft Under Color of Law.  In addition to massive media coverage, a Wisconsin law firm called, Animal Legal Resources, LLC., has posted about the story.  Here is a wonderful post by them in which they go into the unconstitutionality of Waukegan's actions in this case.  

Now as of today, Wags 2 Wishes is doing damage control.  They posted that they filed their annual report and got themselves back in good standing with the State of Illinois, and all information is now going through their lawyer.   For the sake of journalist integrity, here is their posting.  

Again, this doesn't mean they are a legal charity. Here is their actual business license. It says that they are legally an animal shelter that is located at: 1006 Kelly Ave, Joliet, IL 60435. This is public information that is not only in the public domain, but Wags 2 Wishes also publicly posted it themselves.

1006 Kelly Ave is a very small residential home. I wonder what her neighbors think about an animal shelter being run out of a small house like this?  Is this property properly zoned to run a business out of? 

Now one of their supporters by the name of Kelly Morgan (a vegan animal rights activist) has hinting that I have "defamed" Wags 2 Wishes by reporting about this situation.  

I say, bring it on.  As an author, I have every right to cover any situations of public interest I so choose.  

Here's an issue of public interest that I am going to focus on.  Money.   Wags 2 Wishes may have now gotten their agricultural license back in order but they are still not a legal charity.  Anyone who gives them money cannot legally deduct it on their taxes.  Any money that Wags 2 Wishes makes, they must pay taxes on that.   Can Wags 2 Wishes prove to me that they have paid their full Illinois taxes?  It is Wags 2 Wishes who has boasted that since May of 2013, they have sold 400 animals (out of that house above?).  It's not defamation for me to ask, Did you pay your taxes on that income?  

Here's a post from December showing them selling off dogs for $300 each.  I have several screen captures of this but here's just one:  

Let's do the math.  If they charge a base minimum of $300 per animal and they have sold 400 animals, they have grossed a profit of $120,000 in about 18 months on animal sales alone.  Is Terri Crotty paying herself a salary out of these funds?  If so, has she paid her payroll taxes? 

Just in December 2014 alone they are fund raising like crazy asking for additional "donations" above and beyond their animal sales.  Have they paid their taxes on every single bit of those funds?  

Terry Crotty also sells merchandise including hoodies and t-shirts.   Was any of the required Illinois' taxes collected on those sales?  Here's one example of the products she has for sale.

Check this one out!  Terri Crotty, the owner of Wags 2 Wishes posted that Bill Lucas has given her a WV Beetle and that she sold it on December 9th, 2014 for the full asking price.  Did she pay her taxes on that sale?  

Again, Wags 2 Wishes wants everyone to think they are 100% on the up and up but they are not a registered 501c3 with the IRS and they do not have their Board of Directors publicly listed and their incorporation papers and tax returns made available to the public.   Just a short peak into their operation shows that Terri Crotty is pulling in a lot of money.  It isn't defamation for members of the public to want to know where all the money is going.

A Loss of Justice in Waukegan, Illinois

In the last 48 hours a news story has gone viral.  A story of injustice and animal cruelty in Waukegan, Illinois.  I covered the story yesterday when I wrote, When Christmas Puppies bring Jail Time.  If you read the original news story, the comments are 100% against the Waukegan Police and the City of Waukegan with good reason.   The injustice and the animal cruelty that were committed in this situation was not by some whacked out "animal abuser" but instead by the so-called Good Guys.  At Christmas Time.  The Waukegan Police Department and a dog flipping group calling itself a rescue are the bad guys in this story.   Their victims are a family of former Marines, John and Stevie Bass.  They have three children and a bulldog.  Sounds like the typical American dream, right?  During this recent Christmas season, John, Stevie, and their three children joyfully raised a single litter of puppies born from their bulldog.  By the time they were six weeks old, the entire litter was sold all except one puppy.   Now the puppies themselves were still living in the Bass's home with their mommy while their anxious new puppy families waited for them to become old enough to go home.  At the same time, local animal rights extremists were trolling the internet and newspapers looking for dog breeders to destroy.   They found one.  Remember that last single puppy looking for a new home?   The word from the family is that a member of the dog flipping group contacted the Bass family under a fake name to buy the last remaining puppy.  

The next thing they knew they were part of a Waukegan Police Sting Operation, causing massive trauma to their family.  Their children had to witness the cops arresting their dad the day before Christmas.  Over puppies.  Obviously Waukegan has no other crime occurring, right?   So Officer Scrooge Kelly, did you thank John Bass for his service to his country while you were slapping the handcuffs on him for owning an illegal puppy?  

Sting Operation: Wikipedia defines a sting operation as: "In law enforcement, a sting operation is a deceptive operation designed to catch a person committing a crime."

In this sting operation over supposedly illegal puppies the Waukegan police sent an officer to go undercover to attempt to buy a puppy in order to try and force the Bass family into committing a crime. You’d think that with the explosion of heroin problems nationwide that this would be some sort of undercover drug buy. But where did the Waukegan Police find out that the Bass family had puppies for sale? They were told by a member of the "rescue group" that resells animals for profit. The dog flipping group pretended to buy a puppy and the undercover officer took over the fake identity that the dog flipper had pretended to be.  But honestly, is a $25 crime worth the time and trouble of the Waukegan Police Department? Don’t they have any other crimes they could be investigating? You know, real crimes with real victims?

There is another legal term that needs to come into play here. Evidence.

The Waukegan Police Department seized these eight puppies as evidence of a crime. Evidence must be retained for trial, protected from tampering and misconduct, and a chain of custody of the evidence maintained at all times. That is standard criminal law procedure. But the Waukegan Police Department immediately gave away the evidence in this legal case. Just 24 hours after the story went viral and it was revealed that Wags 2 Wishes is not a reputable outfit in good standing, suddenly both Wags 2 Wishes and the Waukegan Police Department deny having custody of the stolen puppies. So who has them? Can you imagine the outcry from the courts if these puppies were instead something actually serious like heroin? Here is Terri Crotty's Facebook post admitting that her dog flipping group has custody of the stolen puppies.   Her group that is in "not good standing" with the State of Illinois. 

Can you imagine if this situation was different and for example:  Officer Scrooge Kelly was testifying in court before a Judge and talking about her seizure of illegal heroin and how she arrested someone for the horrific crime of selling drugs? Can you imagine the Defense Attorney asking her, "So, Officer Kelly, where is that heroin now?" What can she say? "Oh, I gave it away to my friends who run a business reselling stuff like that?" Jaws would be dropping all over the courtroom and Sgt. Scrooge Kelly would find herself in chains mighty quick. But in this case the evidence of a crime are puppies, and yet it's okay for her to give them away? This is a violation of the law! John Bass's lawyer has the right to see the evidence against his client and he has the right to have it examined and dispute the terms of seizure. He also has the right to sue for its return. But the puppies can't be returned because all the powers in this case deny having custody of them.  Apparently due process be damned in Waukegan.  Turns out the condition of the puppies themselves has also been tampered with.  Now that the animal flipping group had custody of them and the puppies changed hands up to four times in as many days, they admitted that at least one puppy now has a respiratory infection.  Great going Waukegan!  Is there anything you can do right?  

Turns out the Bass family situation is not unusual.  I've covered the issue of law enforcement not respecting the constitutional rights of animal owners in the past.   Animal rights extremists provide almost all the training that law enforcement and animal control officers receive.  Law enforcement today receives their training on animals and the law from convicted criminals, con artists, perverts and terrorists from the Animal Liberation Front who are 100% opposed to Americans owning animals.  You can read my previous articles on this subject, here, here, and here. 

Since the public outcry over the weekend, both groups are now doing some major damage control. The Waukegan Neighborhood Policing Program deleted all information about the seized puppies off their Facebook page, so too did the Waukegan Police Animal Control Facebook page.  Though I noticed they are still linked to the notorious outfit run by a convicted criminal dog thief called "Dogs Deserve Better" on their page.  Feel free to click on both links and leave 1 star reviews for both Police Programs.  The Wags 2 Wishes group has scrubbed both their website and their Facebook page of all the comments about the stolen puppies and instead posted a whine that they received "threats" over the situation.  

Wags 2 Wishes is now whining that they are facing "threats." Cry me a river. They took 6 week old puppies, puppies that they had no legal right too, and were offering them for sale to the public and were fundraising for their pocketbooks before the Bass family even had their day in court. Wags 2 Wishes admits to having sold 400 animals since May of 2013 yet they are not a legal charity.  Where are the taxes they paid on their all of their animal sales?  Why hasn't the State of Illinois gone after this group?  

The Wags 2 Wishes website is also scrubbed off their announcement that they had saved these bulldog puppies "from a breeder."  Notice even after all the comments over the weekend, the website still does not acknowledge who they are, and where exactly these donations are going.  You are just giving your money to some anonymous website with pictures of cute dogs on it.  How gullible are Americans anyway?  Why are people giving money to this group?

Their website and literature gives an address in this industrial building.  I don't see any facilities for animals there.  Why would you give money to a group that won't reveal who's behind it or where they are actually located?  Con artists like this are always lecturing people that no one should buy a dog from a dog breeder if you haven't seen where the dogs are raised.  Shouldn't the same standard apply to this dog flipping group?  Where are these animals they are selling being housed?  In this warehouse?  Or where?  

Even better this group that I covered yesterday that is in "not good standing" with the State of Illinois, is fundraising to create yet another sales outlet for their products.  They want you to help them buy banks of cages for animals....  Just were are those banks of cages going to be located?  In that industrial building shown above?  Wags 2 Wishes also has a long list of products they want on Amazon that they are asking the public to donate to them.  If a breeder did something like this, they would be fried to hell and back on social media.  Why is this something to be lauded and applauded when these animal flipping groups do it?  

So far, both the Waukegan Police Department and Wags 2 Wishes have been revealed to be violating the Bass family's rights.   They are now engaged in a massive cover-their-asses move.  When does the Bass family get justice?  And just where are the poor little stolen puppies now?  It's long past time that Americans everywhere stand up to these fake Retail Rescues and support American Dog Breeders.  They are a dying breed.  

What Makes a Good Animal Rescue?

Over Christmas, the Waukegan, Illinois' cops seized a litter of bulldog puppies, and arrested the owner, previously covered here.  The owner, a former Marine, owned one dog and had one litter of puppies.  What a big crime wave!  A single litter of puppies.  The Waukegan Police Animal Control posted that the puppies have been taken away from the "bad owner" and given to a "good rescue" in a feel good sob story for Christmas.  But what makes a good rescue?

Let's look at the rescue that has custody of John Bass's stolen puppies covered in my previous story, When Christmas Puppies bring Jail Time. They are called Wags 2 Wishes. They have an anonymous website, with no listing as to who registered it. They have an anonymous email address. They do have a phone number which traces back to a Terri/Terry Crotty and Raymond Crotty. These people live at 1006 N. Kelly Avenue, Joliet, Illinois. This tiny little 1275 square foot house on a postage stamp lot is registered as an "Animal Shelter" with the State of Illinois and allowed to have 10 foster permits.  That's a number to remember.  Ten is ten now matter how you count it, even if you are using Common Core math.  Funny how on one of the top animal sales websites, "Petfinder," the Crotty's are currently selling off 10 animals, none of which are the 8 new puppies they scored.  Terri Crotty has also posted on her Facebook page that she took custody of three more puppies just yesterday.  Which means no matter which way you count it, the Crotty's are over their legal permit number.  Wonder what their neighbors think of their animal flipping occupation?  They are also not listed on the Illinois Attorney General's website for legal charities in Illinois yet they are fundraising to build a new "rescue center" that they can sell more animals out of.  It appears that the Crotty's aren't terribly on the up and up either according to this listing on the State of Illinois website which states that they are in fact in "Not Good Standing."  

Now Waukegan cops claim they have the right to steal a litter of puppies, arrest and criminally charge the owner, all because he failed to get a $25 permit that violates his constitutional rights.  In fact, animal rights extremist, Sgt. Kelly stated of the dog's owner:  "It’s really a money-making process. They were in this to make money. It’s running a business without regulations," she said. ”They had no idea where the puppies were going. He made it seem like he was on the up and up.”   But look at this rescue?  They aren't following "the law" either.  They aren't following regulations either.  They are in fact making money because they are not a legal non-profit charity.  If Waukegan claims this is one of their "best" rescues that is so on the "up and up", then how bad are the rest of them?  This entire story is nothing more than civil asset forfeiture gone bad.  Under civil asset forfeiture laws, the government has the right to steal your stuff (in this case, puppies) and give custody of your property to whomever they choose.  

Instead of the Waukegan Prosecutor focusing on John Bass, they should spend their time focusing on this illegal dog flipping business calling itself a "rescue."  Wags 2 Wishes appears to be violating more ordinances, regulations and laws than Mr. Bass ever could.  

When Christmas Puppies bring Jail Time

During Christmas, many in America woke up to family and friends, presents and loved ones abounding in homes stuffed to bursting with holiday joy. The cries of glee as children opened their presents.  Christmas carols playing on the stereo.  Christmas movies on the TV.  Beautiful aromas coming from the kitchen. But not in the City of Waukegan, Illinois. In Waukegan, former Marine John Bass was in jail for the crime of having a single litter of puppies.  An "undercover officer" from the Waukegan Police had gone in and purchased a puppy from the evil American Dog Breeder who bred it.  Oh, the horrors!

Waukegan Police Sgt. Cory Kelly Stated,

“It’s not illegal to have a dog that has babies, but it is illegal to breed them

 for sale,” she added.

Sgt. Scrooge Kelly says its illegal to sell puppies. Funny how the Keystone Kops of Waukegan raced in to steal this litter of bulldog puppies and handed them over to one of their "best rescues" who is now selling them to the public.  Doesn't that make Officer Scrooge Kelly nothing more than a fence for stolen goods?  Follow that? Illegal to sell puppies in Waukegan unless you are a rescue, then you can sell all the puppies you want. In fact the Joliet based "Wags 2 Wishes" is advertising them for sale as, "Waukegan Puppies Saved from Breeder." Really? If it wasn't for dog breeders, puppies wouldn't exist.   Of course the "rescue" is already shilling for cash to take care of these puppies who don't need their care and offering them for sale before their owner has had his day in court.

"But how is this legal plunder to be identified? Quite simply. See if the law takes from some persons what belongs to them, and gives it to other persons to whom it does not belong. See if the law benefits one citizen at the expense of another by doing what the citizen himself cannot do without committing a crime." 

 Frederic Bastiat. 

On their Facebook page, the thugs from the Waukegan Police Animal Control Office posted: "The Waukegan Police Animal Control and Neighborhood Policing Unit worked to save the below Old English Bulldog puppies from an unknown fate. John Bass, of Waukegan, was arrested Tuesday night after an undercover operation into his illegal breeding and sale of dogs in Waukegan."

Unknown fate? Turns out that almost all of the puppies HAD owners already. In fact Officer Kelly stated, ""He had paperwork drawn up and wanted me to sign a contract. Once I paid him for the puppy he was arrested," she said." Get that? John Bass cared so much about his puppies that he was selling them on a written contract.  Which means that he knew where they were all going.  "Unknown  fate" my ass.  The other puppies were already sold and the breeder was simply keeping them until they were old enough to go to their new homes.  Seems to me like every single one of those people have a cause of action against Sgt. Scrooge Kelly.  Now the Facebook Page of the Keystone Cops of Waukegan Animal Control is littered with greedy ignorant people posting "I want one" of these stolen puppies who already have legal owners.  

It gets better. John Bass was charged with the crime of failure to have a $25 permit, but there's a Catch-22 to that permit. Under the Waukegan Sec. 4-67. - Animal breeding license requirement, Mr. Bass is required to give up all of his Constitutional Rights under the 4th Amendment if he wishes to ever breed his dog.   Now many are saying, "well he should have just gotten the permit."  Really?   Which of your rights would you be happy to give up?   The Waukegan ordinance is absolutely unconstitutional.   No American should ever be forced to give up their rights and no law or ordinance can require them to do so.  The unconstitutional ordinance goes on to say that the penalty for violation this ordinance is a $200 fine per transaction "plus costs" whatever those are.  But that's not what John Bass got.  So far, he has been arrested, charged with crimes, and all of his puppies stolen.    

As for the puppies, they have been separated from their mother way too young (Animal Control seized the highly valuable puppies but left the mother behind), and are now shipped through a rescue and placed in unknown homes in unknown conditions around the area exposing them to diseases and poor treatment from incompetent do-gooders who know nothing about the bulldog breed.  These puppies will never recover from the actions of the do-gooders who have deliberately taken them away from their mother way too young.

Seems to me  like the Waukegan Police Department has quite a racket going for themselves.   If you think that the City of Waukegan is wasting tax payer dollars by sending their officers "undercover" to investigate $25 crimes, feel free to send your comments to Sgt. Scrooge at: Cory.Kelly@waukeganil.gov.  You can also tweet the City of Waukegan at:  https://twitter.com/CityOfWaukegan.  They have several tweets on their page wishing people a safe and happy Christmas.  Too bad they don't care about Mr. Bass's Christmas or that of his puppies. 

Back in the 90's, ALF activist Kim Sturla said, "Our goal is to make the public think of breeding dogs and cats like drunk driving and smoking." 

(the ALF is an FBI listed domestic terrorism threat)

If the animal rights indoctrinated Kelly's of this country get their way, no American will ever be able to own a puppy again.   Last I checked, the United States is not a communist nation.  Under laws like this, such iconic American heroes as George Washington would be a criminal.   George Washington, just like many of the founders of this country, was a dog breeder.   We must rise up against corruption in public office and say, "no more!"   Please help John Bass with his legal fees to fight this violation of his constitution rights and the destruction of his puppies.  He has a Go Fund Me account here.