DOG CASE TAKES MARX BROTHERS TURN.

Byline: DENNIS McCARTHY 

The tale of Mike Casey and his dog, Joey - on the lam since Casey busted the 3-year-old Jindo out of the East Valley Animal Shelter last month - is starting to get a little ugly.

Shelter officials confirmed this week that they coaxed Casey to the shelter June 8 under the guise of releasing another dog back to the Casey family. But when he arrived, police were called.

Casey, 26, had been in hiding in the Valley since springing Joey from the shelter where the dog had been held, worried about the dog's life. The canine had served 38 days and Casey was afraid the dog would be put to sleep, since all dogs not claimed or adopted at the shelter start living on borrowed time after 45 days.

Joey had been taken in after a hearing examiner for the Department of Animal Regulation, who found that Joey was not a dangerous dog, had revoked Casey's license to have a dog for three years because neighbors complained Joey had gotten loose in the family's Sherman Oaks neighborhood ``10 to 30 times'' over the past year.

But the same neighbors admitted the dog had not gotten loose in the past six weeks since Casey built higher fences and put in new gates at the house.

It didn't make any difference. Joey was taken in. So Casey picked the lock on his cage and busted him out - setting off a dog/manhunt by animal regulation officers.

When he arrived at the shelter, he was nabbed.

``It appears that we did set Mr. Casey up,'' said Jackie David, spokeswoman for the Department of Animal Regulation, on Wednesday after talking with shelter manager Karen Knipscheer.

``He was asked to come in so another dog could be released to his brother, and when he arrived, it was decided to call the Los Angeles Police Department. The police handcuffed and detained Mr. Casey, but did not arrest him.''

Mike Casey Sr., who was at the shelter that day with his two sons, said shelter officials were angry that police chose not to arrest Mike after he showed them the June 6 column I had written on the breakout.

Two LAPD officers at the scene that day did not respond to phone calls to explain why Casey was not arrested.

But it does appear shelter officials were not too happy about it.

Five nights later, at 10:30 p.m. on June 13, animal control officers, armed with a search warrant and accompanied by two LAPD patrol officers, went to Casey's father's home in Sherman Oaks looking for Mike and Joey.

Mike was there visiting his dad and brothers, but Joey wasn't. Again, he was handcuffed by police, but not arrested.

David confirmed the late-night visit. ``Our officers went to his home with a search warrant, but they didn't find the dog there,'' she said.

``Mr. Casey was handcuffed, but not arrested. According to the police, they had to see him physically with the dog in order for them to arrest him.

``We are not harassing him,'' David said. ``He has to comply with the law just like everyone else.'' As far as the law, David had told me for the June 6 column that the case had already been referred to the City Attorney's Office for a possible filing of charges against Casey, but that proved to be untrue.

The animal control officers have been acting on their own in trying to have Casey arrested.

``There was some miscommunication and wrong information given to me, and we hadn't taken the case to the city attorney, but we will be submitting it to them this week,'' David said.

There's been a lot of miscommunication and bad information in this silly debacle.

We've got employees of three city agencies - the police and animal regulation departments and City Attorney's Office - wasting taxpayers' money bumping into each other like the Marx Brothers over a case that shouldn't cause more than a slap on the wrist.

All the animal control people have to do is put their egos in their back pockets, and let Casey have an appeals board meeting before the Board of Animal Regulation.

I've talked to two members of that board already - Alvin Rosenblum, who was commissioner and president until resigning recently, and Kathy Riordan, the current president.

Both of them told me they'd do the same thing Casey did if it was their dog facing a death sentence in the pound for something they did, not the dog.

``I would have busted him out, too,'' Rosenblum said.

OK, Casey is not your model dog owner, but he did make some good-faith moves by building the fences and putting in new gates to stop Joey from roaming the neighborhood. What else does the city want?

How about a lawsuit? That could be next, said Casey Sr., who is consulting with attorneys now.

``When the officers came to my home that (Thursday) night, all my sons were handcuffed and my son Patrick's dog, Koby, tried to protect them,'' Casey said.

``They (animal control officers) took the dog in a back room and locked him up. When we went in later, he was bloodied and bruised.

``They beat him up pretty bad, and we've got pictures,'' Casey said.

David said the dog tried to attack one of the officers, who then used an animal control pole to subdue it.

``The dog chewed on the wooden pole and bloodied himself,'' she said.

The Caseys aren't buying it.

Stay tuned.

Let's hear it for Reseda Elementary School. I was hoping there'd be some schools and organizations in the Valley who would prove me wrong in my June 14 Flag Day column - that no one I could find was having any flag celebration ceremonies.

Well, Reseda Elementary did, with more than 500 students waving the flags they made themselves at two front-lawn ceremonies at the school on Flag Day.

Congratulations, kids.