The Saratoga County Sheriff’s Office arrested a Milton man on Thursday after an extensive animal neglect investigation. Matthew Martone, 52, was charged with 55 counts of overdriving, torturing and injuring animals, a class A misdemeanor.

Martone is accused of subjecting 54 golden retrievers and a chihuahua to squalid conditions at his home on Paisley Road in Milton. Investigators allegedly found the dogs covered in bodily waste and dealing with injuries during a welfare check at the residence on July 7.

“This is probably one of our most difficult cases.” Saratoga County Animal Shelter Director, Kelly DeVall said the dogs were in some of the worst conditions she has ever seen. So bad NEWS10 was unable to show all the pictures provided from the sheriff’s office. “They had never been socialized. They’re very fearful. It was very difficult to work on them, and they all needed to be shaved down because they were coated with feces right down to the skin,” said DeVall.

Not all 55 animals came at once. “We got 11 puppies and then we received 16 adult Goldens. Today we received three nursing mothers, 23 one week to two-week-old puppies and two more adult dogs.” DeVall went on to explain, “I couldn’t even count the hours, and the time spent between the staff and the cleaning that we had to do because these dogs were so accustomed to living in filth. As a municipal shelter, our staffing is limited. I say we’re small but mighty. But the staff is amazing. They stay late. They come in early.”

She said other shelters stepped up to help in their time of need. “I’d like to give a shout out to Pepper Tree Rescue and Hope Rescue, the Delaware Valley Golden Retriever Rescue and Yankee Golden Retriever Rescue, because without them, we couldn’t have handled all of this.”

Phil Barrett, Saratoga County Board of Supervisors Chair said now is the time to create an animal abuse registry and protect animals that can’t speak for themselves. “It’s going to be a full team effort with the DA’s office to make sure that we’re able to track and have people on that registry that are engaged in animal abuse, which is just an awful, awful situation.”

Barrett said county leaders will vote on the registry that other counties have already implemented next Wednesday at the Public Safety Meeting.

Attorney George LaMarche, Partner at LaMarche Safranko Law outlined the penalty for those convicted on such charges. “As a misdemeanor it’s only punishable by one year in jail or 3 years of probation. If he gets convicted on multiple counts of it, the maximum punishment he can get is two years.” He said a person may also lose the right to own any other animals for life.

Martone was released on an appearance ticket, it is unclear when he will be back in court.

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