A lawyer is in jail Wednesday after failing to appear in court for an ongoing animal cruelty case.
Contact 13 Chief Investigator Darcy Spears first broke the story two years ago. There is now new information on the white dogs of Pahrump.
For years, attorney Nancy Lord and her companion, Lawrence Moore, have had too many dogs -- way too many -- in terrible conditions authorities call hoarding.
They were supposed to get rid of the nearly feral animals as part of a plea deal, but they never did. So more charges were filed, leaving Nye County Animal Control to deal with an out of control situation.
"All hours of the night they start from 5 in the morning till 9 to 10 at night just barking, going nuts," said neighbor Terry Saylor in August 2014. "There's constantly packs getting out of her fence."
Neighbor Betty Petaros added, "We're kept up all night. We cannot sleep."
That was two years ago, but images and audio recordings from this week show little has changed for the Pahrump neighborhood where Lord lives.
Contact 13 began investigating the case when officers served a warrant at her home in the summer of 2014, seizing dozens of dogs and puppies that were unsocialized, aggressive, and often left to fend for themselves when it came to food.
"The community was absolutely terrorized by the animals running at large," said Nye County Emergency Management Director Vance Payne in 2014. "And the DA, our department, the judge, in collaboration agreed we had to put a stop to this."
Lord and Moore faced more than 50 different charges involving an excess number of dogs in inhumane conditions, failure to vaccinate and failure to get proper licenses and permits to keep more than five dogs.
When we talked to Lord two years ago, she said she didn't want to get permits because she didn't want authorities inspecting her home.
When they served the warrant, animal control officers said conditions were horrible -- including floors covered in feces about two inches deep.
"Would you be willing to show us what it looks like in there?" Darcy Spears asked Lord in 2014.
"No," Lord replied. "No. I'm still working on it. It's been a very disastrous day and I am not letting anyone in that home."
Lord and Moore struck a plea bargain, but they didn't deal with the dogs or the home's conditions. So new charges were filed for animals running at large and torture in the form of failure to provide proper food and water.
When the two failed to appear in court Monday, warrants were issued and they were arrested and jailed.
Animal control found about 26 dogs on the property this week.
Some got loose and ran off.
Due to concerns about parvovirus, the remaining dogs will stay on the property instead of going to the shelter.
Officers will feed and water them until they can be sent out to rescue groups.
As for Lord, the district attorney has asked the court to impose the 30-month prison sentence she had hanging over her head if she failed to comply with the plea bargain.
The DA has asked for that before, but says Lord gamed the system by filing frivolous motions to keep her case open. There has been no decision yet on the new request.
In the meantime, the Nye County Sheriff is pursuing new cruelty charges.
