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Crime & Safety

Dog Abuse Suspects Arraigned in Packed Brick Township Courtroom

Charge: Brick couple abused 'Sammy' the cocker spaniel; one suspect receives public defender in case

The Brick couple accused of animal cruelty after claiming they found a dog in a garbage bag by the side of the road in March will face a maximum of six months in jail if convicted, a judge said Monday afternoon.

Keith E. Morgan and Shauna Ewing Morgan of Sawmill Road were arraigned Monday afternoon by Judge Robert M. LePore in Brick Township Municipal Court.

The two are accused of animal cruelty, falsifying a police report and more in connection with abandoning their cocker spaniel, now known as Sammy, whose story had drawn followers across the country.

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“These are disorderly persons offenses,” LePore said, adding New Jersey law allows a maximum of a six-month jail sentence for charges arising from the same event.

That news did not sit well with the dozens of people who turned out to show their support for Sammy. Wearing pale green T-shirts emblazoned with “Justice for Sammy” and carrying signs, they filled the Brick Township Municipal Court room to standing-room-only capacity, with nearly 250 people in the courtroom until police asked several spectators to leave to comply with safety mandates.

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 “I wanted to see them get more jail time,” said Debbie Gee of Rockaway, wiping her eyes as she spoke outside the municipal building. “That’s what got me upset, hearing they can only get six months in jail.”

Keith Morgan, 56, faces charges of animal cruelty for failing to provide proper grooming and veterinary care for Sammy; unnecessary cruelty for allowing Sammy to sit in his own urine and feces, causing burns on his skin, and interfering with an officer for providing misleading information during the course of the investigation. LePore said Keith Morgan also faces charges from Tinton Falls of abandoning a sick or maimed animal at the humane society and filing a false police report for claiming they found Sammy in a garbage bag by the side of the road.

Shauna Ewing Morgan, 43, faces charges from Tinton Falls of abandoning a sick or maimed animal at the humane society, and charges from Brick of failure to provide proper grooming and veterinary care and unnecessary cruelty for allowing Sammy to sit in his own urine and feces.

LePore said the Tinton Falls charges have been consolidated with the Brick case by Monmouth County Superior Court Judge Lawrence M. Lawson, who sent the case to Brick.

Shauna Morgan is represented by attorney Marc B. Schram of Hazlet. Keith Morgan received approval for a public defender on Monday. Schram originally was retained to represent both Morgans, but told LePore that a conflict exists that neither he nor the Morgans were aware of at the time they hired him. Morgan told LePore he has no income currently beyond his wife’s income, though he is applying for disability.

Schram and Brick Township prosecutor Steven A. Zabarsky agreed to have a pretrial hearing set for six to eight weeks.

LePore had warned the crowd to be quiet and maintain order -- “no yelling, no clapping, nothing that would create a disturbance” -- or he would have the offending parties removed and they could face charges. The only time there was a reaction was when he read the charges of leaving Sammy sitting in urine and feces; that drew gasps from the crowd.

Outside the courtroom, spectators who had come to show support for Sammy vowed they would bring even more supporters to the next hearing.

“I’ll make shirts,” said Lori Ecklund of Houston, Texas, who was in New Jersey to pick up her son from Rutgers University but took time out to attend and show support for Sammy. “We’ll be back with even more people next time.”

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