Greensburg man accused of child endangerment, animal cruelty

A Greensburg man was charged Friday after city police said they found a boy alone in his apartment with deplorable conditions, and one of two dogs rescued from there defecated part of a toothbrush, according to court papers.

John Harry Patak III, 29, is set for a preliminary hearing next month on charges of child endangerment, cruelty to animals and neglect of animals.

City police were called to the apartment complex where Patak lived on Aug. 18. A humane society police officer was putting a notice about an animal neglect investigation on the door of Patak’s apartment when she found a 10-year-old boy there alone with the two dogs.

The doorknob was missing from the apartment’s door, and the carpet was soaked with dog urine, police reported in a criminal complaint. The apartment had an “overpowering odor of urine and feces throughout it” that neighbors complained permeated the entire building, Lt. Robert Jones wrote in the complaint.

The dogs, both of which appeared to be German shepherd mixes, were surrendered to Animal Friends of Westmoreland, police said. One was in a cage and appeared very aggressive but calmed down within about a week of being at the shelter, according to court papers. The second dog ran around the apartment while investigators were there.

Neither canine had any food or water, police said.

A maintenance worker told investigators he has seen pieces of cloth in the dogs’ feces around the complex and believed they had been eating foreign objects. Police said one of the dogs passed part of a toothbrush while at the shelter.

Patak disputed the police allegations, saying he would never put the boy, who he was watching for a friend, in danger. He had been at work for five hours when authorities showed up.

“I was calling him every single hour on the dot,” Patak told the Tribune-Review Monday.

He said the dogs, which he had adopted a month earlier from someone on Facebook, had food and water. Patak described the animals, which were puppies, as “destructive” and said he realized shortly after adopting them that he didn’t have the time to provide them with the attention and training they needed.

“The minute I would look away … I would come out, my clothes had been eaten,” he said. “These dogs … got into everything.”

A summons has been issued, and a Nov. 19 preliminary hearing is set.

Patak owes about $400 in court fines and fees in connection with a nontraffic citation filed in September for failure to vaccinate against rabies, according to online court records.