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Name:
Hamaker, Connie England
Date of Booking:
05/09/2025
Reason(s) For Booking:
CRUELTY TO ANIMALS – 13 COUNTS
Officer’s Narrative:
[Please note: The following is a direct transcription from the official initial incident report. The Georgia Gazette does not fix any spelling or grammatical errors that may exist. Any changes or redactions made by our staff are placed inside brackets. Some errors may exist. All subjects are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. The topics discussed may be sensitive to some readers. Discretion is advised.]
On 05/06/2025, I was dispatched to a welfare check involving dogs inside of a residence. The dog owner, Connie Hamaker, had checked into a mental hospital at Georgia Regional Hospital in Savannah, Ga. She did not make arrangements for the dogs to be cared for while she was away and the dogs had now been inside the residence with no care for at least 3-4 days.
On the morning of 05/07/2025, Humane Enforcement executed a search warrant at the residence after confirming that there were several dogs inside the small home. Officer Hood and I were able to corner and catch pole three black and white dogs that were outside of the residence on the front porch. Two other dogs ran away from the residence and we were not able to recover at the time of the search warrant. Inside the house, there was a large amount of garbage and personal items. There were so much debris that you could not see the floor. The trash was stacked halfway up the wall throughout the entire house. There were dogs crying and barking inside.
I attempted to open the door to the house and was not able to get it open due to the large amount of garbage behind the door. I was able create an entrance through a window that had an ac unit in the window. I removed an ac unit from one of the windows on the back side of the house and Deputy Alex Gaston was able to remove a window ac unit from the front window. I stuck my head inside the house to look around. It was warm inside with no ventilation. Neither ac window unit had been running. Deputy Gaston was able to use a catch pole through one window and contain one of the dogs that was guarding several small puppies. This dog was removed through the window and secured in a kennel in my truck.
Officer Lori Hood was able to climb through the window to attempt to collect the remaining dogs. One by one, Officer Hood was able to transfer dogs to Deputy Gaston and I through the open windows. Officer Hood took photos of the inside of the house. She had to walk along bookshelves, furniture, and trash to move around the house. She said that she did not see any sources of water or food for the dogs. The smell inside the home was very strong of urine and feces. It was so strong it burned my lungs as I breathed. As Officer Hood exited back out of the window, I could see that she had dog feces all over the bottom of her boots from walking around inside.
We left a live trap on the front porch in attempt to collect the remaining two dogs at large. 11 dogs were transported to the Effingham Animal Shelter.
The following dogs were removed from the property:
OUTSIDE OF THE RESIDENCE
3 adult dogs (black and white)
INSIDE OF THE RESIDENCE
8 dogs total removed from inside (1 adult dog, 7 puppies)
[End of Narrative]