Sheriff probes humane shelter complaints

DAVE MOSIER/independent editor

Van Wert County Dog Warden Rich Strunkenberg has been placed on paid administrative leave pending completion of an investigation into complaints about conditions at the county animal shelter.

Sheriff Thomas M. Riggenbach stated Wednesday afternoon that his office received a complaint on Sunday from a local resident concerning conditions at the shelter. The sheriff sent deputies to the shelter at that time to assess possible problems at the shelter, and they apparently had some concerns about conditions at the shelter.

“I had a unit go out there and see what we had,” Sheriff Riggenbach said. “I’m not going to go into the specifics of what we found, but it was not what was acceptable to me.”

A local veterinarian was also called in to assess the health of several of the animals at the shelter, the sheriff said, and some animals were removed to the vet’s office for treatment and further observation. Only one of those animals is still at the veterinarian’s office, at this point, Sheriff Riggenbach said.

Although the Van Wert County Board of Commissioners hires the county dog warden, the sheriff has been Strunkenberg’s direct supervisor since August 2013.

Sheriff Riggenbach said he has had almost daily contact with Strunkenberg since August 2013 and was working with the dog warden on how he handled calls and provided services — an area that had engendered a considerable number of complaints prior to Strunkenberg being placed under the sheriff’s supervision.

“That is one of the reasons there was a lot of direct supervision on those type of services,” the sheriff said.

Sheriff Riggenbach did note, though, that he had seen some big improvements in how Strunkenberg handled service calls.

“I felt he had been doing pretty well, with what I was seeing, responding to calls, handling calls for service,” the sheriff said. “I felt he had been doing well in that regard.

But Sheriff Riggenbach also took his share of the blame for conditions at the humane shelter that are currently under investigation.

“There was close supervision on a lot of things, as far as his position goes,” the sheriff said, “but not as close as needed to be with the shelter area, so that’s something on me for not making sure we did a better job on that.”

Sheriff Riggenbach said that, pending completion of the investigation, a deputy has been pulled off road duty to handle the dog warden’s duties.

The sheriff would not say when he felt the investigation would be completed, noting only that a thorough investigation would be conducted.