LAS VEGAS (FOX5) — Two employees at Working Dogs of Nevada are facing felony animal abuse charges after the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department received a tip from a former employee.
John Johnstone and Tabitha Berube were arrested and charged with felony willful and malicious torture, according to Metro. Police confiscated 35 dogs from the facility.
Metro police said they started investigating in March after receiving several videos from a former employee. Investigators spent days reviewing the footage with the help of Animal Protective Services before serving a search warrant and taking the two workers into custody.
READ MORE: Shock collars, leash handling allegations spur arrests at Las Vegas dog rescue
Video showed dogs lifted by leashes, shocked during training
According to the arrest report, surveillance video shows Johnstone lifting dogs off the ground by their leashes and using a shock collar when they didn’t follow commands.
“You have to look at, is this outside of the scope of practice? Is this bad training tactics or is this just straight cruelty? To us, it was outside of training practices. It was straight-up cruelty,” said Sergeant William Gethefer.
He described one incident captured on video.
“The dog moves, it seems like it doesn’t want to take a picture. And from his pocket, he shocks it with a shock collar,” he said. “What are they trying to prove? What training are you conducting at that specific moment? When he swings the dog into air with a collar, what are we trying to accomplish training-wise?”
Metro said many of the dogs at the facility were rescued from California, trained and then sold for upwards of $600.
“Which is an exorbitant amount of money for, you know, just an everyday adoption of a rescue animal,” Gethefer said.
Investigators said they believe the organization was about to launch another side of the business where private citizens could pay to bring their dogs in for training.
The Sergeant questioned the training methods used at the facility.
“I was like, all right, well, what are they trying to accomplish here? Who are they giving these dogs to? And why do they think they need such a rigorous training process to the point of being cruel and inhumane to these animals?” Gethefer said. “Quite honestly, our own LVMPD canine probably don’t go through training process like that.”
Reba’s Law increases penalties, holds bystanders accountable
Metro said penalties for animal abuse have increased under Reba’s Law and reminded the public that bystanders can also face consequences if they fail to report what they see.
“If you see something that’s so cruel and don’t do anything about it, the REBA law says as a bystander, because you’ve failed to do anything, you are partaking in the crime. You are partaking in the cruelty act,” said Detective Nancy Leyva who works within Metro’s Animal Cruelty Division.
Leyva says her mission is to address animal cruelty in the valley.
“I truly believe that people, if you, if you adopt a dog or a cat or whatever, you want it to be your companionship animal, you make a commitment to that animal,” she continued by saying, “We need to hold people responsible when they don’t do that because you made a commitment. We see animals that are, that are beaten all the time and they’re, it’s, it’s so cruel. Somebody has to step up and I’m, I’m more than willing to do that job.”
Metro said their goal now is focused on the dogs, making sure they get the care they need and eventually into safe, happy homes.
Metro said from their knowledge, Working Dogs of Nevada did not allow the public to see their training methods and only showed dogs for adoption, which is why the reports of abuse come from former employees.
According to Metro, they handled about 110 felony animal cruelty cases last year and say there are also many misdemeanor cases. They encourage anyone who sees animal cruelty to report it to Animal Protective Services or by calling 311.
Copyright 2026 KVVU. All rights reserved.
