ARLINGTON, Texas — A Tarrant County grand jury has returned three felony indictments, charging an Arlington dog trainer with animal cruelty and evidence tampering after three family pets died in his care.
Alan Brown, 53, was booked into the Tarrant County jail on Thursday, Sept. 28.
Brown faces three counts of cruelty to a non-livestock animal: kill/poison/serious bodily injury -- a third-degree felony with a punishment range of 2-10 years in jail and a possible fine not to exceed $10,000. He also faces three counts of evidence tampering.
Each cruelty count is connected to a family pet that died in Brown's care dating back to 2021 -- WFAA did stories with all three of their owners in early August. Brown was repeatedly reached for comment and politely denied to speak with WFAA each time.
Brown's attorney, James Luster, sent the following statement to WFAA regarding the case Thursday evening:
"Alan Brown loves animals and has devoted decades to helping owners better care for their dogs. Our hearts go out to those who are grieving the loss of a beloved pet. These misguided allegations are driven by heartache. We look forward to helping investigators more fully understand the situation and setting the record straight."
Brooklyn
Brown, the owner of 'K-9 Direction', came under fire when Emeka and Masera Ndukwe's dog Brooklyn, a Bernadoodle, died in his care while they were vacationing overseas. The couple's story went viral online, and other owners who shared similar pain came forward.
Both reacted to the indictments Thursday night.
"At least we can rest and know that Brooklyn didn't die in vain," Masera Ndukwe said. "It's just bittersweet because, at the end of the day, we still don't have Brooklyn."
"At this point, it's up to Tarrant County to figure out what to do with him," Emeka Ndukwe said. "We're hopeful that the court will see it our way. It would have happened sooner or later if it didn't happen today because we would keep pushing."
The Ndukwes said they dropped off Brooklyn with Brown in late June for several weeks while they honeymooned in Europe. The Ndukwes told WFAA they had a friend arrange to pick Brooklyn up when Brown failed to update them on how he was doing.
But while arrangements were being made, Brown told the Ndukwes that Brooklyn had died in her kennel while in his van.
A report from a vet clinic said that Brooklyn was in Brown's van with the A/C going in the blistering heat while he was teaching training classes. The report further stated that the dog was unresponsive when Brown returned to check on her.
The clinic ultimately kept Brooklyn's remains after Brown tried reviving her, the Ndukwes said.
But then the Ndukwes said Brown eventually admitted that Brooklyn had been dead for several days -- possibly as many as seven -- when they tried pulling her out of K-9 Direction.
In a text message provided to WFAA, Brown replied to the Ndukwes that he didn't reach out sooner to "…preserve as much of your honeymoon & Paris memories as possible for future anniversaries."
The couple said they were furious when they found out and returned to the States immediately.
Because Brown didn't truthfully inform them of Brooklyn's sudden death, the couple said, they could not order a necropsy in time to determine a cause of death.
A grand jury found merit in the Ndukwe's claims and added that Brown failed to communicate with them for them to request a necropsy to determine how Brooklyn died.
That line was filed under the evidence tampering accusations in the indictment.
Hershey
After airing the Ndukwe's story, Fort Worth attorney Evan Malloy told WFAA he has worked with Brown with little to no issues since 2009.
But in early June, just before the Ndukwes dropped Brooklyn off, he told WFAA things took a sharp turn.
After dropping off his 6-year-old long-haired German Shepherd "Hershey" and two other family dogs with Brown for seven days, Malloy said he returned from vacation with his wife to learn that Hershey had died in her kennel while with Brown.
"We dropped our three German Shepherds off with Alan on June 5 and then spent the rest of the week in Florida," Malloy said. "Never received any text messages from him. Never got any phone calls, anything like that."
Malloy said that when he arrived back in Texas, he arranged to pick his dogs up from Brown's home, where his business is partially based.
"Alan was waiting for me in his driveway, and he told me for the first time that Hershey had died," Malloy said. "He didn't have any theory as to what happened. He told me he had checked on her early morning and found her dead around 7 a.m. [He] gave me the impression that she had died peacefully in her sleep."
Malloy said things didn't make sense, though, and claimed Hershey had a complete physical and blood work in the months prior and that vets had deemed his pet a healthy dog.
"The whole thing was a huge shock to us," Malloy said. "Brown told me after he found Hershey, he took her straight to his vet in Arlington, that she was at the facility there in a freezer, and that they were arranging for a cremation."
Experts say that placing a dog in a freezer immediately negates a necropsy and learning the cause of death. Still, Malloy said he had worked with Brown so long that he didn't thoroughly question what was happening.
But Malloy said things started to become strange when Hershey's vet told him to contact Brown's vet for documentation of what happened.
"They had no records and could not provide any information about what happened," Malloy said. "They also told us that Alan's wife brought our dog in the day after he told me Hershey was dead in his driveway when we returned from vacation."
Malloy said that meant Brown lied about Hershey's location when he arrived home.
"So, yes, we weren't allowed any necropsy or other examination," Malloy said. "Our dog had been cremated, and we didn't know how else to proceed."
A grand jury found merit in Malloy's claims in the second count of the indictment about evidence tampering by "failing to preserve the body of the animal for a necropsy and falsely claiming to the victim that the body of the animal was in the possession of a vet."
Booster
Trent Robinson's story is more similar to Malloy's.
Robinson, a Fort Worth Firefighter, told WFAA that he left his family's 1-year-old German Shepherd, Booster, with Brown on July 28, 2021, to vacation with his wife.
Robinson told WFAA that he left Booster with Brown for five nights and had paid for dog training classes.
On Aug. 2, the day Robinson returned home, Brown told him that Booster had died that morning.
"He told us that he had him outside too long," Robinson said. "He said multiple times that it was hot and humid that day. The heat index was around 106 degrees when I looked. He told us that Booster was panting heavily in his crate that evening and that he didn't think he ever cooled off."
Robinson said that Brown had Booster placed in cold storage and that he didn't have a chance to order a necropsy for the cause of death.
Robinson said he reported Brown to the City of Arlington, who found that Brown was operating his business out of his home without proper paperwork. Robinson revealed to WFAA in August that he'd been interviewed by the Tarrant County District Attorney's Office about Booster's death.
"There's no doubt that Alan neglected Booster," Robinson said. "This whole thing could have been avoided if he had just paid attention. To lose Booster was like losing a child."
A grand jury found merit in Robinson's claims, including failing to preserve the body of Booster for a necropsy and exposing him to unsafe temperatures, the indictment read.