Arrest made in Newman animal cruelty case where 17 dogs were found sick, malnourished
Police have arrested a Mariposa man in connection to an animal neglect case involving 17 dogs found sick and malnourished in kennels last week in Newman.
Darryl Coleman, 54, was taken into custody Tuesday and booked for animal neglect and cruelty, as well as child pornography charges stemming from a search of his phone.
According to a Facebook post by the Newman Police Department, a search warrant for Coleman’s cell phone uncovered an additional alleged crime, resulting in a charge of possession of child pornography. Coleman also faces 17 charges of animal neglect and animal cruelty.
He was booked in Stanislaus County jail, where he remained in custody Wednesday with bail set at $20,000.
The previous Wednesday, July 27, Newman animal control seized 17 sick dogs that were locked in kennels on a truck bed attached to a trailer parked along a sunny dirt lot on the 600 block of Fig Lane in Newman. Police said a neighbor had called to alert authorities that the truck and dogs had been parked there since July 25 without food or water.
The dogs were covered in feces, and some appeared malnourished. Newman Police Lt. Brett Short said all the dogs suffered from diarrhea and some had physical injuries. Four French bulldogs, one Doberman, 11 pit bulls and a “little white fluffy dog” were seized by animal control, Short said.
Police said they believed the neglected Newman dogs are connected to the alleged operator of a large puppy mill uncovered this spring in Modesto.
Short said the trailer attached to the flatbed where the dogs were discovered is registered to Nicholas Baugh. The 38-year-old Modesto man was arrested in May after 151 dogs were found living in deplorable conditions inside two duplexes in the 500 block of Roselawn Avenue in west Modesto.
Baugh faces 15 felony counts of cruelty to an animal — two counts include the enhancement of using a knife — and a misdemeanor of keeping an animal without proper care related to 134 of the dogs. He also faces a domestic violence charge.
Baugh has not been charged related to the Newman case, but the investigation is ongoing. He remained in jail Wednesday with bail set at $650,000. A preliminary hearing in the Modesto case is set for September.
This story was originally published August 3, 2022 at 2:17 PM.
