Two face animal cruelty and firearms charges in New Bedford

NEW BEDFORD, Mass. — Two people have been charged in New Bedford with animal cruelty and improper firearm storage.

According to authorities, on April 15 just before 4:15 p.m., police responded to an apartment building on Davis Street for a welfare check after a report of a strong odor coming from an apartment where animals were believed to be living.

When police knocked several times and received no answer, hearing multiple dogs barking inside, they forced entry into the apartment due to concern for the conditions inside.

When they got inside, officers observed extremely unsanitary conditions, including animal feces, urine, and garbage covering the floors, along with a strong ammonia odor.

Police then located three adult dogs and five puppies confined to cages and a pen.

While searching the home, police also located a vertical firearm safe, multiple rifle cases containing an AR-15 style rifle, a Remington Model 783 rifle, 60-round magazines, a Ruger semi-automatic rifle, a backpack containing a disassembled over/under 20-gauge shotgun, a 25-round magazine for the Ruger rifle, and two unsecured firearms.

28-year-old Austin Mello arrived on scene, the tenant, and his girlfriend, 25-year-old Kaileigh Blessing.

Blessing told police that one of the firearms did belong to her, and the remaining firearms belonged to her boyfriend.

Both individuals do have active licenses to carry, which were seized.

Mello was arrested and charged with eight counts of animal cruelty, two counts of improper storage of a firearm, three counts of possession of a large capacity feeding device, and three counts of possession of a large capacity firearm.

Blessing will be summoned to court for eight counts of animal cruelty and one count of improper storage of a firearm.

The dogs have since been removed by New Bedford Police Animal Control from the residence and will be available for adoption at Forever Paws Animal Shelter in Fall River.

If you have any information you would like to give to the police about this case, you can call 508-99-CRIME or visiting their website and submitting a tip.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.

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