Sins & Survivors: A Las Vegas True Crime Podcast - The Animal Abuse Epidemic in Las Vegas

Episode Date: May 13, 2025

We recently covered the animal abuse case that resulted in the death of Reba the bulldog when she was left next to a dumpster in 110-degree heat in the hottest part of summer here in Las Vegas.Because of some other recent cases of animal abuse, we’re taking this episode to highlight that while domestic violence is a huge problem here, so is animal cruelty and abusehttps://sinspod.co/78sourceshttps://sinspod.co/78blogDomestic Violence Resourceshttp://sinspod.co/resourcesClick here to become a member of our Patreon!https://sinspod.co/patreonVisit and join our Patreon now and access our ad-free episodes and exclusive bonus content & schwag! Get ad-free access for only $1 a month or ad-free and bonus episodes for $3 a monthApple Podcast Subscriptionshttps://sinspod.co/appleWe're now offering premium membership benefits on Apple Podcast Subscriptions! On your mobile deviceLet us know what you think about the episodehttps://www.buzzsprout.com/twilio/text_messages/2248640/open_sms Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/sins-survivors-a-las-vegas-true-crime-podcast--6173686/support.

To listen ad-free, visit Zinspod.co slash subscribe. Starting at $2.99 a month, you'll also get access to our exclusive bonus content episodes when you join through Patreon or Apple subscriptions. Thanks for supporting the show! We recently covered the animal abuse case that resulted in the death of Reba the Bulldog, when she was left next to a dumpster in 110-degree heat in the hottest part of the summer here in Las Vegas. Because of some other recent cases of animal abuse, we're taking this episode to highlight that while domestic violence is a huge problem here, so is animal cruelty and abuse. There is some good news,

though. Because of what happened with REBA, Nevada is working toward passing a new law meant to stiffen penalties for people accused of crimes related to animals. Hi, and welcome to Sins and Survivors, a Las Vegas true crime podcast where we focus on cases that deal with domestic violence, as well as missing persons and unsolved cases. I'm your host, Sean. And I'm your co-host, John. We covered what happened to Reba the Bulldog in late August of 2024, and at the time, we still had no idea who left her to die in a plastic storage tub that was taped shut and dumped next to a dumpster.

The Vegas Pet Rescue Project was called by the people who found her barely alive, and they brought her to the Veterinary Emergency Care Clinic, which is like the level one trauma for animals here. But she died a few days later from complications due to her heat stroke. Her story was heartbreaking and horrific, and the whole community worked together to try and find out who could have done this. In December, after four months of searching and investigating, two suspects named Isaac LaShall Jr. and Markeisha Foster were identified and arrested. Finding these two suspects started with the initial surveillance footage. Luckily, there was an active camera behind the Vons where Reba was found.

The footage was very grainy, and it definitely wasn't possible to see the suspect's faces, though. They were on camera for about 12 minutes before they drove off, and after they left, the storage tub was there, so it was obvious they were the ones that had left Reba there. The Las Vegas Metro Animal Cruelty Unit gathered cell phone call data, witness testimony and statements, body cam footage from previous police activity, and even samples of dog fur found in nearby apartments. By looking at the car's shape and size, they determined it was a white 2023 Kia Forte. Once they knew that, they researched 50 different white Fortes that were in the area that day, and using a nearby license plate reader, they were able to identify that it was a rental car, which Isaac LeChall's mother had rented.

Since she was in California at the time, they determined that it was likely that it was Isaac that it was doing the driving. They started tracking him and saw him in another video from an unrelated traffic stop in another car, but he was wearing the same clothing seen in the surveillance video behind the Vons. It took them a while to track down the apartment where he lived. And when they finally found it in September and paid it a visit, they found out that LaShall had been evicted. The apartment hadn't been cleaned yet for the new tenants, so police requested access to the apartment to look for evidence. When they searched, they found white dog hair that matched Reba's. They canvassed the apartment complex and talked to their neighbors, and they were able to

confirm that LaShall lived in the apartment with his girlfriend Markeisha, and they had a bulldog that matched Reba's description. Not very surprisingly, their neighbors remembered the couple and told police that they had often seen Reba tied up outside their apartment, even on the hottest days. The neighbors would bring her food and water, and they were always worried about her. They even said they offered to take her, but LaChalle always refused. There are even photos from previous visits by Metro where Reba's blue leash can be seen tied to the railing outside of the apartment. The police were familiar with this apartment complex and with these two. They'd responded to domestic violence calls before, and Reba can even be seen in body cam footage from one of those DV calls. Witnesses also confirmed that after they started hearing about what was happening with Reba,

they said that the dog disappeared from outside their apartment. Police also reported that they responded to a call from Markeisha, who was staying at a nearby Motel 6 in the weeks after Reba died. She reported to them that she and Lashal were fighting, and she wanted to go back to their apartment to get her things, but she was afraid to because Lashal was still there. That was considered a DV call. Police also reported that they had several opportunities to visit Lashal for unrelated incidents, and each time there was evidence of a dog in the apartment. A grand jury came back with an indictment for both of them, and they

both face one felony charge of animal cruelty. If convicted, they could face one to five years in jail and up to a $5,000 fine since they're being charged with felonies, and their trial is set to begin in June. The current laws around animal abuse in Nevada are just not very harsh at all. As it stands, Statute 574-100 covers things like torture, overworking, or beating an animal, and typically first offenses are only misdemeanors. In more serious cases, including maiming, mutilation, or killing of an animal, those can result in a felony charge. Cases resulting from negligence, though,, or killing of an animal, those can result in a felony charge. Cases resulting from negligence, though, can be treated as misdemeanors,

even if they result in death unless malicious intent can be proven, which is difficult. As for the punishments, a misdemeanor can result in only six months in jail and fines of only $1,000, and felonies can lead to one to five years in prison with fines from $2,000 to $10,000. It's commonly accepted that the laws are just inadequate. DA Steve Wolfson commented that he was bound by the current law, which assigned punishments that just don't fit the crime in these cases, and that work was needed to strengthen the laws around animal cruelty. Thankfully, in March of 2025, Melissa Hardy, Melanie Scheibel, and Brian Hibbets introduced a new bill, AB 381, into the current session of the Nevada legislature, and it became known as Reva's Law. Reva's Law does quite a few

things to address these cases, including if cruelty is committed willfully and maliciously and results in an animal's death, that would now be a Category B felony, which would carry with it a one to 10 year prison sentence and fines of up to $10,000, which is definitely harsher. It adds a new felony category, Category D, which would apply to anyone who acts knowingly or recklessly to torture, maim, mutilate, or kill a cat or dog, and it would result in a prison sentence of one to four years and a fine of up to $5,000. This one is especially important because now a person can be charged with a felony without proving malicious intent. So even a reckless or unintended act can result in a

felony charge. And it expands the legal definition of torture and cruelty and adds penalties for harming a police canine. All of this sounds great, and animal rights activists were excited that we were finally going to have some real penalties that could hopefully dissuade some of these horrible things from happening. The bill started making its way through committee

and it was expected to move on, But, unbelievably, on April 11th, it was announced that the bill was dead. In fact, it had not even been voted on. A committee member offered the excuse that they didn't have time to go through all the amendments so they couldn't meet the deadline. We have some other ideas about why this might have happened, which we'll talk about in our swing shift overtime right after this. And if you want to hear that, make sure to visit sinspod.co slash subscribe. You'll get ad-free versions of all of our episodes and our bonus content for under four bucks a month. The Las Vegas community was shocked and honestly more than a little pissed off. There were immediate calls via a Change.org petition for the two representatives, Brittany Miller and Elaine Marzola, who were responsible for the bill dying in committee,

to be recalled, which got 2,000 signatures in the first weekend. And all of the representatives were flooded with calls about the law from very, very angry constituents. It's a little hard to convey just how much the community pulled together in the wake of what happened to Reba, and this was just too much. After five days of overwhelming pressure, it was announced that they were able to get a waiver on the bill to resurrect it. Brittany Miller was interviewed, and it was abundantly clear that she heard the criticism and, to her credit, worked to address it. The good news is that there were a couple of changes that were added to the newest version of the bill, including a provision prohibiting animal abusers from future animal ownership.

For Class B felonies, that is permanent, and for a Class C felony, it lasts for seven years. There's also a new domestic violence portion in the bill, and a provision allowing you to get a restraining order if someone harms your animal. Animal abuse is not at all uncommon in cases of domestic violence. Domestic abusers very often target a victim's cat or dog as another way to hurt them and cause them pain and distress. It is also not uncommon for people in abusive relationships to stay in those relationships because they feel like they can't take the animals with them when they leave. So because of all this, a section was added to the bill and now a domestic abuser that is threatening an animal can be charged with a category B felony. It's a big win for victims of domestic violence. I also want to note here a bit

about domestic violence victims who have pets in shelters. As of the date of this episode, both Safe House and Safe Nest domestic violence shelters in the Las Vegas area have policies on their websites that say they keep pets and survivors together in their shelters, which can mean everything to families escaping violence. Also, Noah's Animal House is a full-service boarding facility, which is located on the grounds of the Shade Tree, one of the women and children's shelters here in Nevada. It can provide a safe place for pets of abuse survivors to prevent people from having to make the choice between their own safety and abandoning their animals in the care of their abuser. They've cared for over 1,900 pets and offered over 100,000 nights of boarding,

and they've served clients from 34 different states showing just how far people will travel to ensure the safety of their pets. And there are two locations, one in Las Vegas and one in Reno. We've added the links for Shade Tree and Noah's Animal House to the resources document we link in every episode of the podcast. Wherever you live, it's important to call or search online to find out about those local resources, because there's definitely been a lot of work done in this area in recent years. People have recognized not only how animals can quickly become victims in domestic abuse situations, but also how hard it is to expect someone escaping violence to just leave their pets behind. There have been many partnerships built between animal rescue organizations and domestic violence organizations recently, so definitely look into what's available in your local area. Now that REBA's law is back on the table and it's working its way through committee, it's expected to pass the full

legislature and then be signed into law by Governor Lombardo, and we will update you on that when it happens. We are far from done here, though. April was a very busy month for animal abusers in Las Vegas. On the same day that we learned Reba's Law was back on, we heard another horrific story of abuse, and again, there was a video. This one happened in the northwest part of the Las Vegas Valley, on West Sheila Street near Rancho and Cheyenne. A ring doorbell camera caught a shirtless man wearing red shorts getting out of his vehicle and holding a tiny dog by the neck, walking up to a dumpster and then violently throwing him inside. He walked back to his car, drove closer to the dumpster, then got out of the car again and closed the lid to the dumpster, no doubt to muffle the dog's terrified cries and keep him from being able

to escape. It's lucky that Reba's law was revived that same day, though, because this case really highlighted how important it is. There were a few reasons this incident could have been much worse. April 16th was an abnormally cool day here, only 72 degrees, and more importantly, the dumpster wasn't scheduled to be picked up for a few days. After 24 hours in the dumpster, a neighbor happened upon the little dog and pulled him out

and of course called the Vegas Pet Rescue Project who came right away and brought him to the vet. Luckily, he's going to be fine. Metro's very busy animal cruelty unit also got involved again and canvassed the neighborhood.

They interviewed everyone to try and find out who could have done this. One of the neighbors recognized the man and said he looked like someone who lived at the end of the cul-de-sac. Then the detectives drove to the end of the street. They found the Jeep Patriot from the video, which was registered to a Henderson resident. They called the owner of the Jeep, who they knew because he had reported an auto burglary in 2023. On the call, he said that he'd seen a TikTok video of a dog being thrown into a trash can, and he believed it was his brother, Alexis Flores, based on his build

and his bald head. He also told the police his brother and the dog were missing and let them know that the dog's name was Marley. He was a small chihuahua, and he told them that his brother was short-tempered and aggressive like that. Flores was promptly located and arrested. When they interviewed Flores, his story was wild and yet another horrible example of animal abuse here. He claimed his young daughter was playing with the dog roughly, pulling his tail and petting him roughly, which led to the dog nipping at her, as you'd expect. He told them that was when he decided to put the dog in the car and throw him in a dumpster and

said, Marley is annoying and frustrating and I wanted to teach him a lesson. Despite the severity of this abuse, because Reba's law hasn't passed yet, it's possible he'll only face a misdemeanor and likely less than six months in jail with a maximum $1,000 fine. He could be charged with a felony given the circumstances and it's early in the process, so we'll provide updates on this one as they happen. These are all really extreme examples, but they seem to happen all the time here, and it seems like they just never end. It's not just your average citizens, though. You'd probably think that a person who works for the Clark County School District Police Department, who has been with them since 2003 and has been a canine handler since 2019,

could be trusted to provide competent care, or at least do everything possible to keep their canine partner safe. But in one recent case, you would be wrong. James Harris, a 54-year-old, 22-year veteran of the Clark County School District Police, was assigned with his canine partner, also named Marley, to Foothill High School here in Henderson on November 14, 2024. He exhibited absolute negligence in Marley's care on that day. He left him in the car without water, and apparently, with the vehicle

windows closed. K-9 police vehicles have a kennel area, and that's where Marley was. But an investigation showed that Harris didn't come check on him for at least seven hours while school was in session, and claimed that while he turned off the air conditioning in the passenger part of the car, he claims he left it on in the kennel section. But for some unknown reason, he deactivated an important sensor on the cruiser which would have opened the windows, turned on a fan, and sounded an alarm when the car got to a dangerous temperature, but he had no explanation for why he had done that. When he got back to the car seven hours later, on that abnormally warm day, Marley was alive but unconscious. Harris administered CPR and brought him to the vet, where he passed away from heat stroke, just like Reba. Exactly like Reba. Because of the current laws and how they're

written, it's impossible to prove malicious intent, so Harris will only be facing a misdemeanor for the death of his partner, and on March 25th, he pleaded not guilty. Specifically, he pleaded not guilty of confining an animal in a motor vehicle, and not guilty of failing to provide for him. It seems like a stretch, but we'll see what the DA makes of it. He's currently not incarcerated. He's assigned to work at home with pay while he awaits a trial. It will be interesting to see what happens with this one compared to the other cases we've mentioned here. Under Reba's law, remember, there'd be no need to prove malicious intent, so Harris would face a class C felony and be prevented from being allowed to have animals for up to seven years.

It's shocking to see a public servant with such reckless disregard for the life he was put in charge of, and it's not acceptable that his punishment, whatever it is, won't fit his crime. We were just about ready to wrap up this list when yet another case was reported, which we need to cover as well. It's by far the most violent one. Metro police were called to Hailhaven Drive in North Las Vegas just after 11 p.m. on April 23rd on reports of multiple gunshots. As many as 13 were reported. When they arrived, they found 34-year-old Kevin Hoskins in the street and inside his house, locked inside a small kennel.

They found a dog that had been shot as many as 13 times. According to the police report, which included statements from Hoskins' family, he had gotten upset with the dog, who was his brother's, and despite multiple members of his family trying to intervene and talk him down from his murderous rage, he got his gun and started shooting. He was booked into Clark County Detention Center on one count of animal cruelty and 13 counts of discharging a firearm in an occupied structure, and bail was set at $263,000. Channel 13 nearly got an interview with him, but at the last minute he decided to stop the interview and hang up on the reporter, but before he did, he made some nonsense claim about self-defense. It'll be interesting to see what the prosecutors do with that claim, given that the dog was found inside of a locked kennel.

I find it pretty unlikely that he was in any danger at all, especially given the testimony of his family. He could be facing a felony charge for murdering his brother's dog, but he will likely face a lot more jail time for the firearm charges, and his preliminary hearing is May 13th. As with the other incidents here, we'll provide updates on our social media. It's hard to believe, but most of what we covered here took place in either April or late March, and like we said, these cases seem to happen all the time. Along with other animal lovers here in the Las Vegas Valley, we're hoping that Riva's law passes and is signed into law, so that at least the prosecutors can charge these crimes appropriately.

Animal abuse is so often tied to domestic violence. The patterns of aggression and violence are related, and just like we always remind you about domestic violence, what happens here happens everywhere. To be continued... Facebook, TikTok, and threads at Sins and Survivors. If you're enjoying the podcast, please leave us a review on your podcast platform of choice. You can contact us at questions at sinsandsurvivors.com. If you or someone you know is affected by domestic violence or needs support, please reach out to local resources or the National Domestic Violence Hotline. A list of resources is available on our website, sinsandsurvivors.com. Sins and Survivors, a Las Vegas true crime podcast, is research written and produced by your hosts,

Sean and John. The information shared in this podcast is accurate at the time of recording. If you have questions, concerns, or corrections, please email us. Links to source material for this episode can be found on our website, sinsandsurvivors.com. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are solely those of the podcast creators, hosts, and their guests. All individuals are innocent until proven guilty. This content does not constitute legal advice. Listeners are encouraged to consult with legal professionals for guidance.