Roni Tracy

Name:
Tracy, Roni Michele

Date of Booking:
04/22/2026

Reason(s) For Booking:
CRUELTY TO ANIMALS – MISD

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 April 23, 2026 I received a complaint in reference to a dog that had been kept inside of a garage. Ms. [WITNESS #1] the complainant, stated that she had been in the home to help her niece Ms. Tracy pack her belongings. She stated that she noticed that the dog had been in the garage with out water and when the dog went inside of the home she was very hungry. Ms. [WITNESS #1] believed that the dog was not taken care of and requested a welfare check on the dog.

When I arrived at the residence I was able to see inside of the garage from two window panels that were broken on the garage door. An overwhelming odor of feces was present as I walked up to the garage. The garage was cluttered with crates of random items, tables, tools, and other miscellaneous items. The floor of the garage in several places was covered in feces. There was new and old feces. In the back right corner of the garage there was a bowl of water that appeared to be on top of feces.

I could hear the dog whining in the far back right of the garage. She got up on the work out bench and I could barely see her through all of the stacked items in the garage. I called for her and she came to the front of the garage. She jumped on the garage door begging for attention and I was able to get a good look at her. Her nails were overgrown and she smelled like feces.

When petting the dog I could feel how hot the garage was. I tested the temperature of the inside of the garage with my infrared thermometer. The back right corner of the garage, where the dog had been the majority of the time, was 88 degrees fahrenheit. The side of the home was 96 degrees, and the hot concrete in front of the home was 109 degrees. The only ventilation in the garage that the dog had was the two small broken windows that were on the garage door.

After several knocks on the front door Ms. Tracy came to the door. I told her we had received a complaint about her dog being in the garage. She stated that she was feeding the dog and taking care of it the best she could. When I asked her if she wanted to surrender the dog she told me that she wanted to. I recorded her statement of wanting to surrender the dog and understanding that she has no rights to the dog after she surrenders her. She stated that she understood. She got the dog out of the garage and helped me load her up into the kennel in the back of my truck.

I obtained some details about the dog from Ms. Tracy. I explained to her that it was extremely hot outside and that the dog should not have been living in the conditions it had been inside of the garage. She told me that she had no where else to put the dog. She said she got into everything inside, and that her fence was not adequate to keep the dog contained in the back yard. We then spoke about things she had more control of such as the feces all over the garage. I told her that she could be taking the dog out on a leash instead of her using the garage to use the bathroom.

I explained that there was no ventilation for the dog inside of the garage. She had no way to get inside or outside to fresh air. The inside of the garage was in an awful condition for the dog. She stated that she understood. I told her I was charging her with animal cruelty because of the conditions that the dog was living in.

A transport unit arrived at the residence and booked Ms. Tracy into the Effingham County Jail. The dog was taken to the Effingham County Animal Shelter and is currently being evaluated.

[End of Narrative]