A man was arrested by Surprise Police Department officers after they found over a dozen dogs he had abused. The suspected abuser, 41-year-old Levi Lewis, was arrested and booked into the Maricopa County ITR jail facility on 1 count of felony animal cruelty and 10 counts of misdemeanor animal cruelty.
On March 24th, 2022, officers were called to an apartment complex near Bell Road and El Mirage Road in reference to a report of animal cruelty. A witness reported that a man had zip tied the mouth of a dog shut. Investigators learned that this had occurred several times over the past 2 weeks.
During the investigation that followed, detectives from the Surprise Police Department’s Criminal Investigations Division executed a search warrant at the suspect’s apartment. During the execution of the search warrant, 10 puppies were located; all of which were suffering from various states of dehydration and had no access to water.
In total, 12 dogs were recovered which included the 10 puppies and 2 adult dogs. One of the adult dogs was found in an emaciated state and transported to a local valley animal hospital for immediate medical evaluation and treatment.