Springdale man charged with marijuana operation, animal abuse tased after fleeing arrest

After Springdale Police were called to check on two dogs at a home in the borough, officers said, they discovered not only a pair of animals covered in urine and feces without food and water, but also a large cache of marijuana.

That netted Joshua Pawlak, 35, two felony counts of aggravated cruelty to animals and several more felony drug charges related to numerous THC vape pens and more than 30 pounds of marijuana police said they found in his Rosslyn Street home.

Police leveled the drug charges against Pawlak in July but awaited word from the Allegheny County District Attorney’s office and animal control agents on the extent of the dogs’ injuries before further charging Pawlak.

The Springdale man previously posted $20,000 bail for the drug charges.

Pawlak had arrived Friday at the Springdale police station to sign over control of his dogs when police told him he would be placed under arrest for the abuse charges, according to police.

It was then that he took off running, police said.

Two Springdale officers chased Pawlak for about two minutes before he tumbled to the ground, police said. According to a criminal complaint filed against him, Pawlak continued to resist the officers.

The two officers then deployed a Taser on Pawlak before placing him in handcuffs and returning him the station, the complaint said.

The incident yielded a third set of charges for Pawlak, including evading and resisting arrest.

Police had been called to Pawlak’s home on July 29, according to a separate criminal complaint, because of a tip that claimed the two dogs were never let out of the house to relieve themselves and one had been “howling as if something was wrong.”

When officers arrived, they found the house in “deplorable” condition and sought a search warrant to return, the complaint said.

Upon entering the house, police said, they smelled a “pungent odor of ammonia and feces.” Officers said they found two dogs locked in cages without food or water in the front room of the residence. Both dogs were covered in urine, feces and fleas, according to the complaint.

The collar of one of the dogs had also caused a 1½-inch open wound on its neck, police said.

According to court documents, officers also found items of drug manufacturing material. Pawlak denied a police request for permission to search the home. But after obtaining a second search warrant, police said, they located a large stock of marijuana in a safe owned by Pawlak.

The stock included about 33 pounds of marijuana in vacuum sealed bags, hundreds of rolled joints, more than 130 THC vape pens and two pounds of THC wax, according to the complaint.

That’s in addition to drug paraphernalia, scales and packaging materials, police said.

The contents of the safe had a street value of about $58,000, police said.

After the search, a Springdale code enforcement officer condemned the home.

The bail conditions for the animal abuse and evading charges were nonmonetary, according to court documents.

Pawlak’s preliminary hearing for those two cases is set for Aug. 25. His preliminary hearing for the drug-related charges is scheduled for Sept. 22.

Pawlak’s attorney for the drug-related charges, Duke George Jr., declined to comment about his client’s case.