EAST LIVERPOOL — An arrest has been made in connection with a starved and neglected dog recently reported as abandoned.

Paula Parks, 42, 45740 Y&O Road, was arrested Monday and charged with making false alarms to a law enforcement agency. She is now in the Columbiana County Jail.

According to a police report provided by the East Liverpool Police Department (ELPD) and Police Chief John Lane, on Sunday at approximately 5:25 p.m., Parks brought the extremely emaciated dog to the police station and told officers she had seen the dog dropped off while she was at the Giant Eagle on Bradshaw Street.

Capt. Michael Boyd, observing the dog to be weak and dehydrated with its rib cage and hip bones sticking out, gave the dog some food and water, but ended up having to take the water away due to the amount the dog was drinking because he feared the dog would get sick due to being malnourished for so long. He also noted that the dog had a small bit of diarrhea with blood.

Parks told the officers that a small dark colored vehicle similar to a Honda turned off Bradshaw onto Ravine and that she watched as the vehicle sat there near 112 Ravine St. for a few minutes before a male got out and left something on the sidewalk before driving off.

She went on to tell officers that after the car left she went over to see what had been dropped off and discovered the dog.

While taking her report, officers contacted the Columbiana County Dog Warden who sent someone to pick up the dog.

Boyd then went to review the surveillance footage at Giant Eagle, but did not observe the vehicle Parks had described. He then asked Detective Jon Price if he could check the VFW on Ravine Street for any camera footage.

Boyd briefed Price on the circumstance surrounding the dog, and Price began an investigation by going to the location Parks reported the dog abandoned. Price said in his report he went to every house that had security and doorbell cameras asking to view the footage. While viewing all the footage, Price did not observe any of the vehicles matching the description provided by Parks.

Boyd mentioned to Price that while he was viewing the footage from Giant Eagle, he did not see any footage of Parks’ car in the Giant Eagle parking lot.

Price noted that he received an anonymous tip from a female telling him that a family member had seen the dog at the home of a male and his girlfriend and the dog was kept caged due to an aggressive nature and was living there in filth. The female also told Price she heard the male and his girlfriend were kicked out of the house and living on the streets.

Officers were able to find an address for the couple on St. George Street and an address for the girlfriend’s father on the same street. The father was not home when officers went to speak to him, but they spoke to a neighbor who told them the dog had come from the Y&O address which was the male’s mother who had kicked him out of the house. The neighbor identified the male’s mother as Parks.

After checking the male’s Facebook page and seeing Parks was on his friends list, Price headed over to Parks’ residence where he found the male, his girlfriend and Parks in the driveway.

“I then advised Paula (Parks) that we have some talking to do and I could see she was becoming emotional and ready to cry,” Price said.

Price noted at that time he told Parks about the investigation he had been doing throughout the day and how her story was not adding up.

At that time, according to Price’s report, Parks admitted to him that she had had the dog for the past week and that it was not eating. She said she didn’t know what to do with it so she took it to the police department.

Parks’s son told Price he did not put the dog in the house and that it was probably his cousin who abuses animals. When he tried to tell price about his cousin burning the whiskers off a cat, Parks began to yell at him, telling him to keep his mouth shut.

At that point, Price placed Parks under arrest.

While en route to the station, Parks, according to the report, began crying and telling Price she tried to contact the dog pound and asking Price if he had ever been put in a bad position from someone before. Price, sensing Parks needed to talk, advised her they could talk at the station, but he would need to read her Miranda Rights to her first.

Once at the station with Parks, Price read her Miranda Rights, and Parks said she understood them.

He then asked her about the family member her son said abused animals.

Parks told Price she had allowed her sister and brother to live in her trailer while she was living in Pittsburgh, and they had been living there for two months. She went on to tell Price when she returned, the trailer was a disaster, with chickens and other animals running around plus the dog. She also said that she kicked them out and they left the dog, coming back off and on to take the dog.

Then she admitted to having the dog for the past week, with the dog not wanting to get family members in trouble; she made up the story of the dog being dropped off and took the dog to the police station.

Price told Parks that her lying like she did could have possibly resulted in the arrest of an innocent person.

She was then charged with making false alarms. The abuse and neglect of the dog occurred outside the jurisdiction of the ELPD.

Price will be following up with the Columbiana County Sheriff’s Office today to further investigate and charges relating to the abuse/neglect and condition of the dog are pending.

Police began searching for the suspect, turning to social media asking their Facebook followers around Ravine and Bradshaw to check their cameras if they have them to see if the abandonment might have been recorded as they worked to retrieve camera footage from that area.

Calls to the Columbiana County Dog Warden’s office for an update on the dog’s condition have not yet been returned.

Media partner WKBN previously reported that the dog was being fed small portions of food every couple of hours and been watched with a close eye.

kgarabrandt@mojonews.com