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Accused Dog Abuser Sent To Jail

MOOSIC — The dog owner from Moosic who apparently violated his bail by having more than one dog on his property was taken into custody and put in the Lack...

MOOSIC -- The dog owner from Moosic who apparently violated his bail by having more than one dog on his property was taken into custody and put in the Lackawanna County Jail on Tuesday.

After more dogs were removed from his property just last night, it appears authorities had enough.

Moosic Police came to John Tanis' home on Main Street in Moosic with a court order to send Tanis to jail. Investigators say they have proof that Tanis violated his bail twice by keeping more than one dog on his property.

It's also possible Tanis lied under oath in court last week.

For the third time in less than a week, Moosic police officers were called to John Tanis' home on Main Street, this time with a court order to send the man accused of abusing his dogs to jail.

After being charged with animal cruelty, Tanis was allowed to stay free on one condition: that he only keep one dog.

Tanis cooperated with officers but he told us he was not lying when he told a judge last week that he didn't know the one dog he was allowed to have was pregnant.

"John, did you lie under oath?"

"No!" Tanis replied.

The puppies were taken from the home last week and an animal rights group caring for them said they are from different litters.

Then, after another warning from a judge, police were called Monday when neighbors spotted a Labrador on Tanis' roof. They took three more of Tanis' dogs.

That makes a total of 30 dogs Denise Kumor and her organization Tracey's Hope are fostering.

"I've lost, sleepless nights, worried about these dogs. The condition of the first four that we got was so horrendous that I worried that the others would wind up like that," Kumor said.

After Tanis was sent to the Lackawanna County Prison, volunteers took one last dog from his property that will also be fostered by volunteers. A judge says Tanis' dogs are to stay in foster homes until after Tanis' trial set for May.

In the meantime, investigators are seeing if Tanis should face perjury charges.

"As far as more charges regarding the dogs, I can't really speak to that. As far as anything else, we're still investigating some things with his testimony in court," said Lackawanna County A.D.A. Michael Ossont.

A judge will decide later this week if John Tanis is to stay in prison until his trial in May.

A condition of the court order filed Tuesday is that Tanis must have a mental health evaluation before his trial.

Moosic police officers were at his home for much of the afternoon and told us they did not find any other dogs.

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