A 28-year-old woman has been arrested on the charge of cruelty to non-livestock animals - abandon, after she was observed by law enforcement removing animals from a shelter, then driving them to different counties and abandoning them near roadsides.
Court documents state on Sept. 29, covert surveillance was conducted near the Atascosa County Animal Control shelter in Jourdanton. At approximately 5:37 p.m. Sept. 29, a gray Dodge mini-van was seen arriving at the shelter, occupied by Martin and another individual, named as Wayne Milo Martin in the affidavit. The two were seen "loading up" numerous dogs into the back cargo area of the van.
At approximately 6:08 p.m., the two left the ACAC, and were followed into Kimble County, where they exited Interstate 10 onto the Cleo Road exit. Nearly three hours later, the same vehicle with the same occupants was seen in Sutton County, near mile marker 425, taking the FM 3130 exit, by a game warden.
According to the game warden, the vehicle drove out of sight for approximately four minutes, then was again observed continuing westbound on Interstate 10. The game warden followed the path the mini-van had driven and found four large dogs abandoned on the side of the FM 3130 roadway.
The game warden positively identified three of the four dogs as animals who had been in the ACAC shelter.
At approximately 12:40 a.m. Monday, Sept. 30, the van was seen again traveling eastbound on I-20 near mile marker 446 in Kimble County. Deputies from the Kimble County Sheriff's Office conducted a probable cause traffic stop on the van.
Wayne Milo Martin was identified as the driver and Katreena Lynn Martin as the passenger.
Body camera footage of the stop showed the dog carriers in the back of the van were empty at the time of the traffic stop. Wayne Martin told officers that he and Katreena Martin had driven a load of dogs to a rescue in Midland, but could not provide any documentation or contact information for the alleged shelter to which the dogs had allegedly been delivered.
Additionally, Katreena Martin told a similar story to deputies, and could not provide documentation or a contact, either. She further stated she had transported "thousands of dogs" to rescues across the nation.
It is not clear whether Wayne Martin was in custody Thursday evening. This is a developing story. More information will be posted as it becomes available.
