DISCOVERY BAY — Authorities suspect a 42-year-old man living in Jefferson County, an admitted cocaine smuggler who was accused in 2010 of allowing men to have sex with animals at his farm in Whatcom County, in the presumed theft of a dog reported missing from a property south of Discovery Bay.
Douglas B. Spink, reportedly once a wealthy entrepreneur in Oregon, is now in the Federal Detention Center in Seattle after he was arrested March 4 by six U.S. marshals, three federal probation officers and four Jefferson County deputies at a home along Chicken Coop Road near the Clallam/Jefferson County line, said Deputy Alex Mintz, animal control officer with the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office.
Spink had been arrested at an alleged bestiality farm in the rural community of Sumas in April 2010 while on probation after pleading guilty in 2005 to smuggling 372 pounds of cocaine through Monroe.
Mintz said he suspects Spink of taking a 5-year-old Kangal Boerboel mixed dog named Ghengis from the yard of Andrew Johnston while Spink was living on the property of Compass Rose Farm, Johnston’s neighbors on West Uncas Road south of Discovery Bay.
“[Spink is] my only suspect,” Mintz said Saturday.
“It’s pretty much circumstantial, but he’s the only person in the area that would have motive to do it. Also, he had the opportunity.”
Spink was arrested earlier this month for investigation of violating the terms of his parole in the cocaine smuggling case — amended after his arrest in Whatcom County — by having an animal with him at the Chicken Coop Road residence, a 1½-year-old Caucasian mountain dog named Bacca, and staying at the Compass Rose Farm property without registering his address with his parole officer.
“[Spink] was wearing [Bacca’s] collar when he came to the door,” Mintz said.
Bacca is now in the hands of the Whatcom County Humane Society, Mintz said, where he’s in good health after being treated for an ear infection and a case of weepy eye.
“Apparently, he’s doing really well,” Mintz said.
In 2010, according to Whatcom County Superior Court documents, law enforcement agents arrested Spink at the Sumas property listed as his residence and found a video camera with footage showing Spink standing by during acts of bestiality with dogs.
Spink served two years in federal custody for violating his parole by being around criminal activity and was released in late 2012, Mintz said.
Three counts of animal cruelty were filed against him that year. His trial is scheduled March 24 in Whatcom County Superior Court.
Mintz said he fears Ghengis may have been abducted into a secretive world of animal sex trafficking, based on his research into Spink’s connections with the bestiality lifestyle in Washington state.
“There’s quite a network,” Mintz said.
Spink’s latest arrest started with a Feb. 23 report of harassment by the owners of Compass Rose Farm, Mintz said, who called 9-1-1 saying Johnston was harassing them about Ghengis going missing.
Johnston told responding Deputy Jason Avery he could not find his dog after looking the day before but did find a hole cut in the fence separating his property from the farm’s driveway, Mintz said.
Avery interviewed the farm’s owners, who said they did not know anything about Ghengis going missing, and was given Spink’s phone number because he had been staying in a trailer on the property, Mintz said.
The farm’s owners told Avery that Spink had moved from the trailer in the late hours of Feb. 21, Mintz said.
Avery called Spink, who told the deputy he did not take Ghengis.
“Mr. Spink said, ‘I already have a large dog and wouldn’t be able to take another,’” Mintz said.
Avery eventually told Johnston to stop contacting the Compass Rose Farm owners about his missing dog.
Mintz looked further into Spink’s history after he saw Avery’s report on the case.
He knew Spink’s name from an April 13 email he had received from Sequim Police Sgt. Sean Madison, who had been told by Spink’s parole officer that Spink was living at the Chicken Coop Road address.
Mintz found out about Spink’s animal cruelty charges and past parole violation, and began contacting federal officers, since Spink appeared to have been staying at the Compass Rose Farm in violation of his parole.
Mintz said both the owners of Compass Rose Farm and Johnston have been shaken up by the incident, adding that the Sheriff’s Office has no indication that either of them knew about the animal cruelty charges against Spink.
Spink is expected in U.S. District Court for a March 27 hearing concerning his most recent alleged parole violation, Mintz said.
________
Reporter Jeremy Schwartz can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5074, or at jschwartz@peninsuladailynews.com.
