MAX DISAPPEARS DAY AFTER SHEPARD’S WAY ANIMAL RESCUE PICKED HIM UP
Max arrived at the Woodbridge shelter on 716/15. The Woodbridge Animal Group originally posted that Max was available for rescue on 8/10/15. Image from WAG.
Dog rescuers across the country are asking this question about a German Shepherd named Max that Shepherd’s Way Animal Rescue was supposed to bring back to its facility in Springdale, WA in September.
I wrote about Shepherd’s Way last summer regarding a questionable fundraiser it held to raise $10,000 to host “the official command center for volunteer fire fighters.”
The Emergency Services Director for Stevens County, WA said the fundraising appeal was a fraud.
On September 4 of this year, Carrie Aenk, one of Shepherd’s Way founders, and volunteer Morgan Leighton left the Woodbridge Township Animal Shelter in New Jersey with Max for their trip back to Washington.
However, Max never arrived at Shepherd’s Way. He disappeared the day after Aenk “rescued” him.
Allen Aenk, Shepherd’s Way’s other founder and Carrie’s husband, has claimed his wife dropped Max off somewhere in Pennsylvania. He refused to say why Carrie didn’t bring Max back to Washington. He also didn’t say why Carrie left him in PA.
Here’s the information I’ve been able to piece together about Max’s story:
SHEPHERD’S WAY SOLICITS DONATIONS FOR MAX
Max’s family surrounded him to Woodbridge Animal Shelter on 7/16/2015. They provided a Vaccination/Health Certificate and paid a $100 surrender fee.
On 8/10/15 the Woodbridge Animal Group, which helps find homes for dogs in the Woodbridge shelter, posted Max’s picture with the following message:
Kathleen Tortu-Bowles started this YouCaring fundraiser for Shepherd’s Way. Image from Seattle DogSpot.
“RESCUE NEEDED BY FRIDAY 8/14. 3 yr old, intact male Ger Shep named Max. Owner surrender. Has behaviorissues. Can be corrected with the right, EXPERIENCED rescue ONLY. He cannot be directly adopted from the shelter. We do not know how he is with dogs/cats at this time. If you are a rescue that would like to pull Max, please call the shelter for further details and ask for Heather (732)8550600 x2034. Please share for Max, thank you!”
TIMELINE OF EVENTS
Here is the sequence of events that led to Max’s departure with Carrie Aenk and Morgan Lighton on September 4:
- 8/17/15 – Allen Aenk sent a copy of Shepherd’s Way 501c3 approval from the IRS to the Woodbridge Animal Group with the message: “We are trying to make plans to come and get Max if you will allow us to. Our fax machine is broke so this is the next best thing.”
- 8/18/15 – A woman named Kathy Bowles aka Kathleen Tortu-Bowles organized a fundraiser on you caring called “Saving Max” in which she solicited donations for Shepherd’s Way prior to Max’s release. The final total was $220. According to YouCaring, the money collected went directly to Shepherd’s Way PayPal account.
- 8/18/15 – Allen Aenk posted the rescue approved their request to take Max
- 8/19/15 – A woman named Lorraine Zales solicited donations for Max’s rescue by Shepherd’s Way by posting a link on Facebook to the YouCaring fundraiser initiated by Ms. Tortu-Bowles.
- 8/19/15 – Allen Aenk solicited donations for Max in the comment section of Zales’ fundraising page. He asked people to donate through the YouCaring account, which was linked to the Shepherd’s Way PayPal account, or directly to Shepherd Way’s PayPal account. The Aenk’s refuse to say how much money people donated directly to the Shepherd’s Way PayPay account.
- 8/19/15 – Allen Aenk sent this message the Woodbridge Animal Group: “Can you post the fundraising request for Max on your page. I have posted it but it’s not coming up on your page.” Their response: “Yes, we will post it when he is pulled and it’s ‘official’.”
- 9/4/15 Max was released to Carrie Aenk.
Patrick Leighton, the brother of the volunteer that went with Carrie Aenks to get Max, said that he is dead in this Facebook thread from October 25. Image from Seattle DogSpot.
Many people have made many claims regarding what happened to Max after he left New Jersey with Carrie Aenk and her volunteer, but the one thing everyone can agree on is this – Max never made it to Washington.
“Max is gone.”
Why Max never arrived in Washington has been subject to debate on numerous conversation threads.
In my opinion, based on the information I’ve seen, I believe Max is dead.
MAX PROBABLY EUTHANIZED IN PENNSYLVANIA
On 10/25/15 A Washington man named Patrick Leighton said that in a conversation threat that Carrie Aenk “put this dog down during the trip back home.”
He said he knew because his sister is Morgan Leighton, the volunteer that went with Aenk from Washington to New Jersey to pick up Max.
The second piece of evidence I have that Max is dead is from someone who works with the rescue that helped Shepherd’s Way get him.
A volunteer with Shepherd’s Way texted on 11/ 7/15 that he died. Image from Seattle DogSpot.
AENK SAYS MAX IS DEAD
Note she says that Allen and Carrie Aenk are trying to cover up where Max is.
The last piece of evidence is from the fingers of Carrie Aenk herself. On September 4 at 2:20 PM, just one day after she picked up Max, Aenk texted the following message:
(509) 258-xxxx:
Max is gone.
2:20 PM MMS
Anek goes on to say that she and Morgan “stopped at a another vet’s office to get another sedative and his heart could not take it. He didn’t come out of it.”
Max got his first sedative from a vet the day before after bit Carrie and apparently was too difficult to control. The next day she told the group:
(509) 258-xxxx:
Both arms pretty chewed up. Max does NOT like potty breaks and once out of the car, he attacks. With 2000 miles left to go, it is going to be a very long trip. I have no arms left to feed him.
9:59 AM MMS
Less than 4 hours later, Carrie said Max was dead.
So far no one told donors Max never arrived in WA or returned their donations. Image from Seattle DogSpot.
That night she told the group she had Max’s body with her:
(509) 258-xxxx:
Max is under ice in the back of my car for a decent burial. My friend Todd paid for the vet bill.
9:26 PM MMS
Carrie Aenk’s statements contain no ambiguity that Max died that day.
VET’S IDENTITY HIDDEN
As you can see from these examples of increasingly angry texts the day Max died, once Carrie told the others Max was dead, she refused to tell them either the name or location of the vet that supposedly sedated him. (Lorraine Zales is the “Me” in the conversation).
Katherine:
I’ve been waiting to hear from you…what is going on? I wanted you to call me…I have friends in Ohio who wanted to help…I asked for the vets name…
8:59 PM MMS
Katherine:
What vet did u go to? Where in Ohio? We are all devastated
9:28 PM MMS
Katherine:
Carrie I understand all of these things had to be taken care of, but I’ve asked numerous times which vet u went to because I would like to thank him/her for all they did for Max…what part of Ohio were u in? Where is Max now? Where are u now?
12:43 AM MMS
Katherine:
I’m going to bed…late here…please text name of vet in Ohio…I want to call there and thank them…we haven’t talked all day and I wanted to talk about all of this…not undersranding why we didn’t talk and get “through” this together after all of the weeks of working on Max and all the hard work…this is devastating to say the least…
1:21 AM MMS
Katherine:
I worked for Max and I’m hurt and sad….i only asked for answers to very legitimate questions given the circumstances of what was happening at the time. You said u would call me and that never happened…how do u think I feel…please do not twist this because it’s not warranted… you’re asking me to wait until you drive 2000 more miles to get any answers to my questions that I really deserve to have. I’m sorry but if that had been me at the vet, I would have called u immediately being that WE were so involved in this endeavor..you’re resting now and still no phone call…how would you feel if you were ignored?
3:47 PM MMS
Me:
Went silent after the muzzle texts around 1030am. Bottom line Max is dead because he got a lethal shot of something. We can only gather because that is what they told us.
MMS 4:31 PM
USING FAKE PICTURE TO PROVE MAX IS ALIVE?
Not long after Patrick Leighton wrote in a conversation about Max on Facebook on October 25, Allen Aenk responded by saying that, despite his wife’s assertion to the contrary, Max was still alive and well somewhere in Pennsylvania.
Later in the same conversation thread, Alan provided this picture of a dog he says is Max to prove he’s alive and well in Pennsylvania:
When people demanded an update on Max in Oct., Allen Aenk claimed the people who had him sent this picture… Image from Shepherd’s Watch Animal Rescue.
However, there is one slight problem with this picture: As of yesterday, Shepherd’s Way Adopt-a-Pet page had the same picture and said it’s a dog named Butch that’s was available for adoption (I took a screen shot of it just in case it somehow disappears.)
…but it looks identical to this picture of a German Shepherd named Butch that SW has on its Adopt-a-Pet page. Image from Shepherd’s Watch Animal Rescue.
Oops.
Given these pictures of Butch and Max are so similar, if not identical, how anyone not assume that Aenk simply posted the first picture of a German Shepherd he could find to assuage the people demanding to know where Max was?
MOTIVATED BY MONEY
Like I said before, all the people I’ve spoken to and evidence I’ve seen have seen regarding this sorry saga convinced me Max is dead.
But what’s baffling to me is why anyone in an animal rescue group that primarily deals with horses would drive over 2000 miles to pick up a dog in New Jersey and bring it all the way back to Washington.
Maybe the answer is simply money. Shepherd’s Way wouldn’t be the first rescue that collected money to rescue a dog that ended up disappearing. And while the YouCaring fundraiser appeared to only raise $220, we don’t know how much money people contributed directly to Shepherd’s Way PayPal account.
On August 19 Aenk told a contributor that he would post an update about Max when he arrived in WA. The donor recently said he never got an update or a refund. Image from Seattle DogSpot.
What we do know is that nothing in the solicitations for money to rescue Max indicated that he was going to Ohio, Pennsylvania, or anywhere else besides Washington.
I’ve also not seen any updates about Max from Shepherd’s Way to donors that contributed money to the group to rescue him.
Instead, we just have 2 wildly different explanations from the people who run the group that collected money to rescue Max.
But, don’t waste your time track down the Facebook conversation threads or fundraising request that I posted.
They have all disappeared.
Max’s original thread on the WAG (Woodbridge Animal Group) Facebook Page is no longer accessible.
The Shepherd’s Way Animal Rescue Facebook Page is no longer accessible.
The Saving Max YouCaring is no longer accessible.
The Saving Max Facebook event is no longer accessible.
Allen and Carrie Aenk could easily stop all the speculation about what happened to Max. They just need to provide a truthful and verifiable answer to the question so many people have.
If you have any information about Max’s previous owners or what happened to Max please contact me at rpregulman@seattledogspot.com.
Another example of thos shady rescue in action. Time to notify the IRS that Rosas non profit organization has a track record for fraudulent fundraiser activity.
How a convicted felon was even able to become the head of a nonprofit is totally beyond me.
Like leaving the wolves in charge of the hen house.
This investigation is not over ..besides the 3 percenters and milta sheep dog what ever there was also a neo Nazi weed farm tied to aenks before the 3 percenters or bundy pile involved ..we victims demand justice ..the poor animals
Again. This is NOT Kathleen Tortu-Bowles first rodeo with a dog that’s ended up dead or missing. Same with Carrie Aenk.
People that have nothing to hide; hide NOTHING. These people are nothing but scam artists. Google their names.
Carrie Aenk has a fairly long criminal record.
There is another problem concerning shepherds way phony horse and dog rescue and Kathy tortu Knowles ..there was a small 2 acre fire down street on same street ( this is not the fire victim scam one that’s separate ) 2014 springdale hunters rd fire with a stump burn ..2 acres only ..well Shepard way claimed to rescue 11 animals ( check its there ..but what isant there is Kathy tortu Knowles picking up those animals ..( they were rescued from Shepard’s way before the fire dept got there or during ..but I witnessed her rig black suburban fancy catoror with her name on rig ..2014 ..from Robert Christerson ..now we have another insedent
Also if Patrick Leighton is traced to sheep dog milita Arkansas or where ever this place is ..what’s the connection all 5 ? We have shepherds way ..2 Leighton’s ..one sheep dog impact Arkansas Kathy tortu Knowles slash catorer cherry hill new Jersey ..plus add domestic terrorism shylur barbu Bundy pile ex guard ..I have reported some info to federal trade commission not long ago and it still looks like their fake 501c is still active April 2017
Any Responsible rescue who has to put down a dog due to human’s being attacked would Surely be able to Provide the PROOF with the Vet Receipt of Euth. That would be easy to provide. Instead, their FB page is down and their Website is now down as well.
This is NOT how any reputable rescue behaves. They would make a statement and have the Proof that Max was Humanely Put down with the Vet receipt. Once again where there’s smoke there’s fire. So worrisome for the other dogs people have sent to this “rescue”.
Yes they should, and they should let donors who gave money to bring the dog back to WA know what happened and refund their money.
How much more shady shit does this couple have to do before people wake up? The Aenks are now also being investigated by the FBI for possible homeland terrorist activity. Deceit is their best action, not rescue. They have made thousands off the public, to fund their sneaky ways. How many more have to die before people stop supporting them and giving them money?
As noted above KTB has been involved in a number of disasters involving GSD.
This post has so many elements that epitomize what is wrong with rescue today: a rescue only dog is at a shelter; the inept keyboard warriors such as KTB start posting and sharing on fb, begging for someone, anyone to save the furbaby; fundraisers are started; a dubious rescue from thousands of miles away drives in to the be the rescue savior…. really what could go wrong? According to the rescue/employer of the alleged domestic terrorist/constitutional scholar, nothing, absolutely nothing, the dog is alive and well in PA, let me guess living on a farm. The keyboard rescuers claim they worked so hard hitting that share button on fb, setting up fundraisers, worked so hard to save the animal. KTB is in the same state as the shelter, she could not find any rescue in or near NJ for Max? Why does the shelter even release a rescue only dog to an unknown rescue that is 2000 miles away? If the shelter or any of the fb keyboard rescuers had used google your previous posts would have shown up. This WA state “rescue” is clearly nothing but a scam (thank you for your research). KTB is a type; as I have never met her personally I do not know if she is a scammer or just an idiot or a combination thereof. Of course if one questions anything on fb they are labeled a hater or animal killer. And people keep giving to these “rescuers”, and these “rescuers” will not stop until the money runs dry or there are serious legal consequences. Thank you for your blog posts
Thanks. You’re evaluation is spot on. To these people dog are merely a commodity to be used to make money. The also have someone that provided “security” for their property who is a suspected terrorist by the FBI.
Please heed my message. I personally know the Aenks, and have had to deal with them In court on two separate occasions. I know for a fact, the type of people they are. Carrie knows enough about circumventing the law, she wears down those who try and take a stand against her. Her time in prison, was well spent, learning new ways to scam and fleece the unwary. She is well know to law enforcement and the court system, for a reason. Normally, I try and give people th benefit of the doubt. Ms. Aenk walks and lives on the dark side of humanity. I did not give up in my fight against her, and finally was successful in defeating her in court. How she is able to continue her devious ways, under the guise of a 501(c)3 is beyond comprehension. Please, if there is anyone out there who knows of a way to research how she can be stripped of this non profit status, please investigate. Get word to the IRS or any appropriate agency.
Thank you, we have heard this from several people. I’m glad you won your fight with her.
omg that is the same place that my dog pookiebear went to from california to sheperds way rescue they had sent me to pic of pookie bear and i assume the other dog is max are looks just like him pic was sent around aug are sep but i also seen the raid pic and i see pookie in a cage that is full of mud no food are water and i dont no on how about checking on him need help i dont no if i am blocked are sheperds way web site is shut down can someone plse help me
This investigation is not over ..besides the 3 percenters and milta sheep dog what ever there was also a neo Nazi weed farm tied to aenks before the 3 percenters or bundy pile involved ..we victims demand justice ..the poor animals
Dear Max..
You have not been forgotten and while we may not get justice for you specifically, we continue our efforts to stop all involved who played a role in your untimely demise so that no other dog will suffer the same horror that you went through.
Send all this, with a letter to the IRS. A 501c3 is required to make their financial records, letters of incorporation, and donor information available for public inspection during reasonable business hours upon request. See p. 18
https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p4221pc.pdf
Pay attention to p.4 regarding the prohibition of private inurement of officers of a charity.
They must maintain records of donations made, too. This will be part of required 990 reporting/return for the non profit. If required returns are not filed, 501c3 status can be AUTOMATICALLY REVOKED.
See revoked 501c3 status here. Can change DAILY!!!
https://www.irs.gov/charities-non-profits/charitable-organizations/revocations-of-501c3-determinations
Courtesy of a former IRS employee! ????
Excellent info, thank you!