scared dog
Only one of the dogs discovered in the back of a van left in the hear for several days survived.
A local man has been arrested after he allegedly left his dogs - two of which would later be found dead - in a van while he went to get intoxicated, according to official reports.

Jason Matthew Reece, 39, appeared in court Wednesday on charges of disorderly conduct and animal cruelty resulting in death. The Bay County Sheriff's Office reported arresting him Sunday night at a Beach condo only to learn the next morning that dogs found dead inside a nearby van belonged to him. Reece is currently being held at the Bay County Jail on a combined bond of $10,000, court records stated.

Reece recently had pleaded no contest to a disorderly conduct charge officers believe occurred June 2, the night he left the dogs in the van. But during his arrest, Reece did not mention the dogs, BCSO reported.

"At no time did Reece tell deputies he had left his vehicle nearly a half mile away parked in front of a Dollar General Store," officers wrote. "Reece also did not inform the deputy he had left three small dogs locked inside the vehicle."

According to BCSO reports, deputies responded June 3 to a complaint about a man who appeared intoxicated and was pulling on handles of vehicles at condo complex. Deputies approached Reece in the nearby parking lot, and he claimed he thought the vehicle belonged to a friend of his, officers reported.

Deputies reported smelling alcohol on Reece's breath. He reportedly claimed to be from Tennessee but was not able to provide the name of anyone he knew locally, so he was taken to jail for disorderly conduct, BCSO reported.

Days later, Reece's wife contacted BCSO wondering where her van was and expressed concern about the three dogs that were inside. Officers told her Reece had been arrested but had never mentioned anything about a vehicle or dogs.

Reece, still in custody at the jail, reportedly told officers he did not know where he left the van. Officers began canvassing the area for the van, and found it in the parking lot of a nearby Dollar General. Inside the locked van, deputies found two of the dogs had died inside the kennels where they were being kept, but one was still alive, BCSO reported.

Authorities opened an investigation into animal cruelty charges on Reece as Animal Control took possession of the living and dead dogs.

When Reece appeared in court earlier that morning, he was conditionally released on the disorderly conduct charge. BCSO had begun attempting to find him again as part of their animal cruelty investigation when he called from a business in Southport, claiming he was in "mental distress" because his wife was angry with him and needed to talk to a deputy, BCSO reported.

Deputies responded and brought Reece to BCSO for questioning about the animal cruelty charges. Reece allegedly admitted to knowing about the vehicle and the dogs left inside and said he failed to act upon that knowledge, causing the death of two of his dogs. He was arrested and taken back to the Bay County Jail.