Two people have been charged after several dogs were found chained, emaciated, and injured on a property in Conway. 

A police report from the Horry County Police Department says officers responded to a property on Hucks Road in Conway on Wednesday for a welfare check on several dogs. 

According to the report, responding officers found dogs in the yard of the property with heavy chains attached to their collars. While walking the property, officers found two Blue Pitbull mixed dogs in a dog pen that “appeared to be under weight.”

The report says officers also found a blue and white female Pitbull mixed dog behind a single wide mobile home that was “being lived in” and a black and brown male Pitbull mixed dog behind this residence. 

Also on the property, officers found a “severely emaciated” female Pitbull mixed dog, a white male American Bulldog on a “tow chain,” a white and red-spotted female Catahoula/Pitbull mixed dog on a “very large logging chain,” a blue/white female Pitbull mixed dog on “another large logging chain,” and a black/white male Pitbull mixed dog on a “large heavy logging chain.”

Near the entrance to the property, officers found a black and tan male Rottweiler mixed dog, the report also says. 

Additionally, officers found a male Mastiff/Pitbull mixed dog “chained to the tongue of a trailer on a heavy logging chain.” The report says as officers approached this dog to “see how he was doing,” the dog “tried standing up” and officers noticed the dog had “a severely broken left leg with visible bone protruding.” This dog was removed from the property and taken to the Horry County Animal Care Center for medical treatment. No information on this dog’s condition is available. 

Only one dog was noted to have food in its bowl and the food was “completely wet and sour,” according to the report. Several dogs had “what appeared to be fresh water” and others had “stagnant green water with mosquito larva swimming in it.” 

“All dogs were observed to be greatly malnourished with ribs and hip bones showing,” the report states. “There was also evidence of a once embedded collar on one of the dogs.”

On July 10, officers responded to the property for a welfare check, says the report. An officer spoke with a female suspect, identified in the report as 25-year-old Destiny Nauticia Freeman, about concerns that some of the dogs were underweight and didn’t have clean water and proper shelter. This officer says in the report they told Freeman to fix and replace some shelters, to cut the grass, and remove “accumulation” on the property.

The report further states Freeman told the officer she and a male suspect, identified in the report as 35-year-old Peter M. Freeman, only owned two of the dogs, the Rottweiler mixed dog and the Mastiff/Pitbull mixed dog. She also reportedly said the rest of the dogs belonged to her brother-in-law, whose name is redacted from the report, and she “shouldn’t be responsible for his dogs.” The officer says in the report he told Freeman that because the dogs were on their property, “they were responsible to make sure they had food, water, vet care, and adequate shelter.” Freeman reportedly told the officer they do feed the dogs but the only reason they feed them is because they don’t want them to starve. 

According to the report, the officer did a follow-up check on July 13 and “didn’t see any” progress. The officer says he spoke with Peter Freeman this time and informed him “what needed to be done.” Freeman reportedly said he’d take care of the issues and the third suspect “wasn’t going to do anything about the accumulation” on the property. The officer says in the report he told Freeman he would be back in a “couple of weeks” to follow up. 

The officer says in the report he presented “the facts of the case” to a judge for an order to remove the dogs from the property. Officers later returned to the property and removed the dogs and the chains. The dogs were taken to the Horry County Animal Care Center. No information on their conditions is available. 

J. Reuben Long Detention Center booking records show Destiny Freeman was booked around 1:15 p.m. on Monday on 11 charges of ill treatment of animals, in general, torture. She was released on $500 bond around 4:30 p.m. on Monday. 

Booking records show Peter Freeman was booked around 1:15 p.m. on Monday on 11 charges of ill treatment of animals, in general, overworking for a second offense. He was released around 4:30 p.m. on Monday on $500 bond.