The Animal Abuse Epidemic in Las Vegas

Episode # 78 Animal Abuse Epidemic in Las Vegas

[Shaun] 

We recently covered the animal abuse case that resulted in the death of Reba the bulldog when she was left next to a dumpster in 110-degree heat in the hottest part of summer here in Las Vegas.

Because of some other recent cases of animal abuse, we’re taking this episode to highlight that while domestic violence is a huge problem here, so is animal cruelty and abuse

[John] 

There is some good news though, because of what happened with Reba, Nevada is working toward passing a new law meant to stiffen penalties for people accused of crimes related to animals

[Shaun] 

Hi and welcome to Sins and Survivors, a Las Vegas true crime podcast, where we focus on cases that deal with domestic violence, as well as missing persons and unsolved cases. I’m your host, Shaun

[John] 

And I’m your co-host, John

[Shaun] 

We covered what happened to Reba the Bulldog in Late August of 2024, and at the time we still had no idea who left her to die in a plastic storage tub that was taped shut and dumped next to a dumpster. The Vegas Pet Rescue Project was called by the people who found her, barely alive, and they brought her to the Veterinary Emergency Care Clinic (like the level 1 trauma for animals here) but she died a few days later from complications due to her heat stroke.

Her story was heartbreaking and horrific, and the whole community worked together to try and find out who could have done this.

In December after 4 months of searching and investigating two suspects named Isaac Laushal Jr and Markeisha Foster were identified and arrested

[John] 

Finding these two suspects all started with the initial surveillance footage. Luckily there was an active camera behind the Von’s where Reba was found. The footage was very grainy, and it definitely wasn't possible to see the suspect's faces. 

They were on camera for about 12 minutes before they drove off, and after they left, the storage tub was there so it was obvious that they left Reba there.

The Las Vegas Metro Animal Cruelty Unit gathered cell phone call data, witness testimony and statements, body cam footage from previous police activity, and even samples of dog fur found in a nearby apartment.

By looking at the car's shape and size, they determined it was a white 2023 Kia Forte. Once they knew that, they researched 50 different White Fortes in the area that day, and using nearby license plate readers they were able to identify that it was a rental car, which Isaac Laushal’s mother rented. 

She was in California at the time, so they determined it was likely it was Isaac driving.

They started tracking him and saw him in the video from another unrelated traffic stop in another car, but he was wearing the same clothing seen in the surveillance video behind the Von’s

[Shaun] 

It took them a while to track down the apartment where he lived, and when they finally found it in September and paid it a visit, they found that Laushal had been evicted. The apartment hadn't been cleaned yet for the new tenants, so police requested access to the apartment to look for evidence.

When they searched, they found white dog hair that matched Reba’s.

They canvassed the apartment complex and talked to the neighbors and were able to confirm, that Laushal lived in the apartment with his girlfriend Markeisha, and they had a bulldog that matched Reba’s description.

Not very surprisingly, their neighbors remembered the couple and told police they often saw Reba tied up outside their apartment even on the hottest days. They would bring her food and water and were always worried about her. 

They even said they offered to take her, but Laushal always refused. 

There are even photos from previous visits by Metro where Reba’s blue leash can be seen tied to the railing outside the apartment. 

Police were familiar with this apartment complex and with these two. 

They’d responded to domestic violence calls before there, and Reba can even be seen in body cam footage from one of those DV calls.

Witnesses also confirmed that after they started hearing about what happened with Reba, they said that the dog “disappeared” from outside their apartment.

[John] 

Police also reported that they responded to a call from Markesha who was staying at a nearby Motel 6 in the weeks after Reba died. She reported to them that she and Laushal were fighting, and she wanted to go back to their apartment to get her things, but she was afraid to because Laushal was still there (this was considered a DV call)

Police also reported that they had “several opportunities” to “visit” Laushal for unrelated incidents, and each time, there was evidence of a dog in the apartment. 

A grand jury came back with an indictment for both of them, and they both face one felony charge of animal cruelty

If convicted they could face 1-5 years in jail and a up to a $5000 fine (since they’re being charged with felonies. Their trial is set to begin in June

The current laws around animal abuse in Nevada are not very harsh at all. As it stands now, statute 574.100 covers things like torture, overworking, or beating an animal, and typically first offenses are only misdemeanors. 

In more “serious cases” including maiming, mutilation, or killing of an animal those can result in a felony charge. Cases resulting from negligence can only be treated as misdemeanors, even if they result in death! Unless malicious intent can be proven, which if difficult

As for the punishments, a misdemeanor can result in up to 6 months in jail and fines of $1000, and felonies can lead to 1-5 years in prison and fines from $2000 to $10000.

[Shaun] 

Its commonly accepted that the laws are just inadequate. DA Steve Wolfson commented that he was bound by the current laws which assign punishments that just don't fit the crime in these cases, and that work was needed to strengthen the laws around animal cruelty.

Thankfully in March of 2025, Melissa Hardy, Melanie Scheible and Brian Hibbets introduced a new bill, AB381 into the current session of the Nevada Legislature, and it became known as Reba’s Law.

Rebas Law does quite a few things to address these cases including

• If cruelty is committed willfully and maliciously and results in an animal’s death, that would now be a category B felony which would carry with it a 1-10 year prison sentence and fines of up to $10,000, which is definitely harsher.
• It adds a new felony category, “category D” which would apply to anyone who acts knowingly or recklessly to torture, maim, mutilate, or kill a cat or dog, and it would result in a prison sentence of 1-4 years and a fine up to $5000.
• This one is especially important because now a person can be charged with a felony without proving malicious intent, so even a reckless or unintended act can result in a felony charge.
• It expands the legal definition of “torture” and “cruelty”
• adds penalties for harming a police k9

[John] 

All of this sounds great, and animal rights activists were excited that we were finally going to have some real penalties that would hopefully dissuade some of these horrible things from happening. The bill started making its way through committee, and it was expected to move on

Unbelievably though on Friday April 11th, it was announced that the bill was “dead”, in fact, it had not EVEN BEEN VOTED ON. 

A committee member offered the excuse that they did not have time to go through all the amendments, so they “couldn't meet the deadline”

There are some other ideas about why this might have happened which we’ll talk about in the Swing Shift Overtime right after this (if you want to hear that please make sure to visit sinspod.co/subscribe! Youll get ad-free versions of all episodes and our bonus content for under $4 a month).

The Las Vegas community was shocked, and honestly, more than a little pissed off. There were immediate calls via a change.or petition for the two representatives Brittany Miller and Elaine Marzola who were responsible for the bill dying in committee to be recalled which got two thousand signatures in that first weekend, and all of the representatives were FLOODED with calls about the law from very, very angry constituents. 

It's a little hard to convey just how much the community pulled together in the wake of what happened to Reba, and this was just too much.

After 5 days of overwhelming pressure, it was announced that they were able to get a “waiver” on the bill to “resurrect it”. Brittany Miller was interviewed, and it was abundantly clear she heard the criticism and to her credit worked hard to address it.

The good news is that there were a couple of changes that were added to the newest version of the bill including

• A provision prohibiting animal abusers from future animal ownership. For a class B felony that is PERMANENT, and for a class C felony, it lasts 7 years,
• A domestic violence portion was added 
• A provision allowing you to get a restraining order if someone harms your animal

[Shaun] 

Animal abuse is not at all uncommon in cases of domestic violence, domestic abusers very often target a victim’s dog or cat as another way to hurt them and cause them pain and distress.

It is also not uncommon for people in abusive relationships to stay in those relationships because they feel like they can't take the animals with them when they leave, so because of all this a section was added, and now a domestic abuser that is threatening an animal can be charged with a category B felony.. Its a big win for victims of domestic violence.

I wanted to also note here a bit about domestic violence victims who have pets in shelters

As of the date of this episode, both Safe House and Safe Nest domestic violence shelters in the Las Vegas area have policies on their websites that say they keep pets and survivors together in their shelters which can mean everything to families escaping violence. 

Also, Noah’s Animal House is a full-service boarding facility which is located on the grounds of The Shade Tree, one of the women's and children's shelters here in Nevada. 

It can provide a safe place for pets of abuse survivors to prevent people from having to make the choice between their own safety and abandoning their animals to the care of their abuser.

They’ve cared for over 1900 pets offered over 100,000 nights of boarding and have served clients from 34 states (showing how far people will travel to ensure the safety of their pets), and there are two locations, one in Las Vegas and one in Reno. 

We’ve added links for Shade Tree and Noah’s Animal House to the resources document we link in every episode of the podcast.

Wherever you live, it’s always important to call or search online to find out about those local resources because there’s definitely been a lot of work done in this area in recent years. People have recognized not only how animals can quickly become victims in domestic abuse situations but also how hard it is to expect someone escaping violence to just leave their pets behind. 

There have been many partnerships built between animal rescue organizations and domestic violence organizations recently, so definitely look into what’s available in your local area. 

[John] 

Now that Reba’s Law is back on the table and it's working its way through committee, and is expected to pass the full legislature and then be signed into law by Governor Lombardo, and we’ll update you on that when it happens.

We’re far from done here. April was a busy month for animal abusers in Las Vegas. On the same day that we learned Reba’s Law was back on the table, we heard yet another horrific story of abuse, and again there was a video.

This one happened in the northwest part of the Las Vegas Valley on West Sheila Street near Rancho and Cheyenne.

A Ring Doorbell camera caught a shirtless man wearing red shorts getting out of his vehicle holding a small dog by the neck, walking up to a dumpster, and violently throwing him inside. 

He walked back to his car, drove closer to the dumpster, then got out of the car and closed the lid to the dumpster no doubt to muffle the dog’s terrified cries and keep him from being able to escape.

Its lucky that Reba’s law was revived that same day, because this case again highlighted how important it is

There were a few reasons this incident could have been much worse. April 16th was an abnormally cool day here, only 72 degrees, and most importantly, the dumpster wasnt scheduled to be picked up for a few days. 

After 24 hours in the dumpster, a neighbor happened upon the little dog and pulled him out, and of course called the Vegas Pet Rescue Project, who came right away and brought him to the vet. Luckily, he’ll be fine.

Metro’s very busy Animal Cruelty Unit got involved again and canvassed the neighborhood  and interviewed everyone to try and find out who did this. 

[Shaun] 

One of the neighbors recognized the man and said he looked like someone who lived at the end of the cul-de-sac.  Then the detectives drove to the end of the street, they found the Jeep Patriot from the video, which was registered to a Henderson resident.

They called the owner of the Jeep, who they knew because he had reported an auto burglary in 2023. On the call, he said that he’d seen a TikTok video of a dog being thrown in a trash can, and he believed it was his brother, Alexis Flores, based on his build and his bald head.

He also told the police his brother AND the dog were missing, and let them know the dog's name was Marley, a small Chihuahua.. And he told them that his brother “was short-tempered and aggressive like that”, Flores was promptly located and arrested.

When they interviewed Flores, his story was wild, and yet another horrible example of animal abuse here.

He claimed his young daughter was playing with the dog “roughly”, hurting him, pulling his tail, and “petting him roughly” which led to the dog nipping at her (as you’d expect)

He told them that was when he decided to put the dog in the car and throw him in a dumpster and said “Marley is annoying and frustrating and I wanted to teach him a lesson”

Despite the severity of this abuse, because Reba’s Law hasn't passed yet, it’s possible he’ll face only a misdemeanor and likely less than 6 months in jail with a maximum $1000 fine. 

He could be charged with a felony given the circumstances, and it’s early in the process, so we’ll provide updates on this one as they happen.

[John] 

These are all really extreme examples, but they happen all the time here, it seems like they never end.

It's not just average citizens though. You’d probably think that a person who works for the Clark County  school district Police Department who has been with them since 2003 and has been a K9 handler since 2019 could be trusted to provide competent care, or at least do everything possible to keep their K9 partner safe, but in one recent case, you’d be wrong.

James Harris a 54-year-old 22-year veteran of the Clark County School District police was assigned with his K9 partner (also named Marley) to Foothill High School here in Henderson on November 14th, 2024

He exhibited absolute negligence in Marley’s care on that day. He left Marley in the car without water, and apparently with the vehicle windows closed.

K9 Police vehicles have a kennel area, and that’s where Marley was, but an investigation showed that Harris didn't come check on Marley for 7 hours while school was in session, and claimed that while he turned off the air in the passenger part, he claims he left it on in the kennel section.

For some unknown reason, he deactivated an important sensor on the cruiser which would have opened the windows, turned on a fan, and sounded an alarm when the car got to a dangerous temperature, but he had no explanation as to why he did that.

When he got back to the car 7 hours later, on that abnormally warm day, Marley was alive but unconscious. He administered CPR and brought him to the vet, where he passed away from heat stroke, just like Reba. EXACTLY like Reba.

[Shaun] 

Because of the current laws and how they’re written, it's impossible to prove malicious intent so Harris will only be facing a misdemeanor for the death of his partner, and on March 25, he pleaded not guilty. Specifically, he pleaded not guilty of confining an animal in a motor vehicle and not guilty of failing to provide for him. That seems like a stretch, but we’ll see what the DA makes of it.

He’s currently not incarcerated. He’s assigned to “work at home” with pay, while he awaits a trial. It will be interesting to see what happened with this one compared to the other ones we’ve mentioned here.

Under Reba’s Law, remember, there’s no need to prove malicious intent, so Harris would face a class D felony and be prevented from being allowed to have animals for up to 7 years.

It's shocking to see a public servant with such reckless disregard for the life he was put in charge of, and it's not acceptable that his punishment, whatever it is won't fit his crime.

We were just about ready to wrap up this list.. When yet ANOTHER case was reported, which we need to cover as well. It's by far the most violent one.

Metro Police were called to Halehaven Drive in North Las Vegas just after 11 pm on April 23 on reports of multiple gunshots, as many as 13 were reported.

When they arrived, they found 34-year-old Kevin Hoskins in the street, and inside his house… locked inside a small kennel, they found a dog that had been shot as many as 13 times.

According to the police report which included statements from Hoskins family, he had “gotten upset” with the dog, who was his brother’s, and despite multiple members of his family trying to intervene and talk him down from his murderous rage, he got his gun and started shooting.

He was booked into Clark County Detention Center on one count of animal cruelty and 13 counts of discharging a firearm in an occupied structure, and bail was set at $263,000.

[John] 

Channel 13 nearly got an interview with him but at the last minute he decided to stop the interview and hang up on the reporter, but before he did he made some nonsense claims about self-defense.

It will be interesting to see what prosecutors make of that claim given that the dog was found inside a locked kennel.. I find it pretty unlikely he was in any danger at all, especially given the testimony of his family.

He could be facing a felony charge for murdering his brother’s dog, but will likely face a lot more jail time for the firearm charges, and his preliminary hearing is May 13th. 

As with the other incidents here, we’ll provide updates on our social media

It's hard to believe, but most of what we covered took place either in April or late March and as we said, these cases seem to happen all the time. 

Along with other animal lovers in the Las Vegas Valley, we’re hoping that Reba’s Law passes and is signed into Law so that at least the prosecutors can charge these crimes appropriately. 

Animal abuse is so often tied to domestic violence. The patterns of aggression and violence are so related, and just like we always remind you about domestic violence, what happens here happens everywhere.

Swing Shift Topics

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