ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — The effects of criminal activity at one New Mexico home went far beyond the property line, impacting neighbors and local animal rescues.

It also tied up law enforcement over the last eight months – and stole the hearts of Australian shepherd lovers across our state.

It was something that Gregory Preston didn’t expect when he moved to Placitas for the peace and quiet.

“I was driving to Santa Fe one day and there was a sign that said, ‘Placitas close to everyone but your neighbors.’ I said, ‘Hold on, I need to go check this place out,'” he said.

Preston found a home but no peace and quiet.

“This is the first time I’ve been out here for more than a couple of minutes and not had dogs barking at me at such a volume that you couldn’t really understand the person you’re speaking with,” he said.

Preston has been living across the street from a suspected criminal dog breeder.

“They used to do a very select presentation of their puppies when they went to go sell them, and I’ve seen probably a dozen sales of dogs that I’ve actually caught. Who knows how many dozens more there were?” he said.

Deputies say Paul and Lauri Jaramillo were breeding Australian shepherds for their rare coloring.

“They only saw them as money signs, as dollar signs. They saw them strictly as a revenue,” Preston said.

What looks like a breeders’ website has been archived. Law enforcement shut down the property eight months ago, and it took days to remove the dogs.

Sandoval County deputies couldn’t get Paul Jaramillo to let them in.

• “You need to come to the door.”
• “The f— I do.”
• “Okay, we’re gonna make entry.”

The deputy couldn’t get the door open, later writing that trash, feces, urine and dog hair stuck the door shut.

Deputies eventually got in. When they did, they found brutal conditions and counted about 40 dogs running loose. Not to mention, dog body parts and bones, and five horses in bad shape.

“We ended up going down three separate times. The animals were removed in stages,” said Mattie Allen, of Española Humane.

Española Humane took 25 dogs and spent thousands of dollars caring for them.

“All of them had health problems, behavioral problems or were completely emaciated,” Allen said.

Many rescued dogs were blind or deaf.

“I’ve seen some bad cases. I think this is one of the worst that I’ve seen,” said John Castaneda, the administrative lieutenant for the Sandoval County Sheriff’s Office.

Lt. Castaneda was there for the seizure back in February. The case is crawling along.

“I think, at this point, we’ve pretty much got a lot of the basis covered. And so we continue to move forward with that,” he said.

Deputies recently refiled charges, including 13 counts related to the animal abuse. 13 counts differs from the amount of affected dogs that several animal rescues say was found in this case.

“Yeah, I want to say it was from 35 it ranged from 35 to 40 dogs, and I believe that included the deceased, as well as I believe the five horses,” Castaneda said.

So why 13 charges when there were more dogs found than that?

“Because I believe some of the dogs that we did capture weren’t necessarily in bad state or a bad condition,” said Castaneda.

“None of those dogs were healthy or easy to integrate into a home,” Allen said.

We asked Castaneda how did this situation got so bad when the officer had been to the property before. We also asked him why it took so long to do something with the property and get the dogs out of there.

“Yeah, that’s a good question, because what it basically comes down to is some of the ordinance, and that is something that we’re looking into now,” he said.

Sandoval County’s six-page animal control ordinance doesn’t mention breeding. The lieutenant said this case was a matter of waiting for the right moment.

“Obviously, without probable cause, we cannot get on that that property until we see what’s actually happening,” he said.

Preston now hopes justice will lead the neighborhood to a new place.

“It did nothing but ruined this neighborhood for a decade plus,” he said. “I hope the courts decide that that behavior is not something can be supported ever again.”

The court scheduled Paul Jaramillo for a bench trial this Thursday for his 19 total misdemeanor charges. His attorneys filed a motion to dismiss the case as the state had not named any witnesses.

According to the court docket, that trial is still set to happen.