Brick Couple Charged In Abuse Of Dog

They said they found a dog in a garbage bag on the side of a Wall Township road Thursday.

But a Brick Township couple has been arrested and charged with animal cruelty after it was found that the pair never found the dog at all. It was their own animal. 

Keith Morgan and his wife Shauna were arrested today at the couple’s Sawmill Road home by officers from the New Jersey Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, said Victor “Buddy” Amato, chief SPCA law enforcment officer for Monmouth County.

“They made up the whole story,’’ Amato said.

The couple is also charged with filing a false police report, Amato said.

The dog, a Cocker Spaniel known as “Morgan,’’ was brought to the Associate Human Society’s office on Shafto Road in Tinton Falls Thursday covered in feces and urine, humane society officials said.

AHS officials have said the dog suffered severe neglect and is on a feeding tube.

Previously Reported:

A motorist driving on Belmar Boulevard on Thursday noticed a movement in a garbage bag on the side of the road, officials said.

It was a live dog, covered in feces and ill, left to die an inhumane death.

The Cocker Spaniel was taken to the Associated Humane Society in nearby Tinton Falls, where the aging dog has been named "Morgan,'' Humane Society staff said.

"We at AHS are offering a $500 reward to anyone with information that leads to the arrest and conviction of the person responsible for treating Morgan in this unthinkable way," according to a release from the AHA. "We will keep the public updated on Morgan's progress as he begins the healing process."

For more information on Morgan, e-mail tintonfallsahs@aol.com or call the AHS at 732-922-0100. The Society is located at 2960 Shafto Road, Tinton Falls 07753. The Society is open 7 days a week for adoptions from noon until 4 p.m.