State Police: Waterbury Man Charged With 5 Counts of Animal Cruelty, One Pit Bull Found Dead

State Police made a horrifying discovery in Waterbury recently, which resulted in a Waterbury man being processed at Troop A in Southbury on numerous drug and animal cruelty charges.

Police acting on a search and seizure warrant of a Waterbury house allegedly found not only illegal narcotics but they discovered four malnourished pit bulls chained up, outside in the cold, all without food and water.

Then they made the grisly discovery of finding a fifth dog dead in an abandoned vehicle on the property, State Police said in a press release Tuesday afternoon.

State Police also found weapons and a stolen motorcycle on the property, according to the release.

The incident began on Friday morning as the State Police Emergency Services Unit Troopers made entry into a house located at 81 High Street in Waterbury.

This entry was made related to a narcotics investigation being conducted by the State Police Narcotics Task Force. This house has been the site of numerous previous drug arrests by the Waterbury Police Department, the release states.

The SNTF Detectives conducted an extensive undercover narcotics investigation that resulted in State Police SNTF Detectives submitting a search and seizure warrant application to Superior Court Waterbury to search the location 81 High St Waterbury Ct. The court issued the search warrant on Friday.

This is what State Police said they found

This residence was found to be in uninhabitable condition and had four pit bull dogs chained up outside in the cold. All were without food, water and malnourished. A fifth dog was found dead in an abandoned vehicle on the property.

A quantity of heroin and cocaine was located on the property. In addition SNTF Detectives also located weapons and a stolen motorcycle on the property. All dogs were turned over to animal control. Rodriguez was identified as the caretaker for the dogs

Abel Rodriguez, 47, of High Street, who was present on the property was taken into custody without incident. He was transported to State Police Troop A in Southbury where he was processed and released on bond.

He was charged with five counts of cruelty to animals and possession of narcotics.

State Police Statewide Narcotics Detectives (SNTF) anticipate additional arrests in this case as the investigation is continuing.