LITCHFIELD PARK, AZ (AZFamily) -- A former buyer familiar with the woman busted for an alleged puppy mill near Litchfield Park said on Wednesday she saw red flags and wished she had reported while a neighbor said he had concerns but didn't see anything illegal.
The homeowners near Camelback Road and Jackrabbit Trail were breeding dozens of Yorkies, golden doodles and labradoodles. The Maricopa County Sheriff's Office said they went by the name State 48 Doodles and Yorkis.
More than 60 dogs were removed from the home on Tuesday. One dog was found dead.
A longtime neighbor, who did not want to appear on camera, says the couple only showed people what they wanted them to see.
He says no potential buyers were ever taken inside the home. They were always shown dogs in the front yard.
Photos on the owner's business Facebook page show picture-perfect dogs groomed flawlessly. But inside the home, MCSO provided photos revealing just how bad the abuse was.
Feces lined the floor and were smeared on the walls. Detectives said they had to wade through 2 feet of waste in some of the rooms to get to the dogs. Crates were stacked on top of each other, with multiple dogs inside each one.
Some dogs were emaciated, others clearly traumatized. One dog was found dead. Another death is under investigation.
"We didn't, nobody knew," said the neighbor. "No, no, no severe alarms, just concerns."
But some did see some potential illegal activity, like Isabella Floress, who bought Harper, a doodle from State 49 Doodles and Yorkis. But she admits hindsight is 20/20.
"She felt like a manipulative person," said Floress.
Floress wanted to see the conditions her dog was raised in, but wasn't able to. "You know when, like you don't want someone to see their house. So, like you squeeze into the door so you like can see little to none of your house. That's what she did to us," she said.
Additionally, she feels grossly misled about how the breeders treated Harper. "She had no enamel. Her teeth were so astronomically horrible," Floress said.
The breeder initially said she brushed Harper's teeth all the time.
Floress claims Harper was advertised as an 8-month-old female, but claims a veterinarian said there was no way Harper was 8 months at the time of her adoption, based on how bad her teeth were.
She says her dog required surgical dental care. "So then, after a couple like going back and forth, she admitted it, that she did not brush her teeth," she said.
In hindsight, Floress says she wishes she had reported what she witnessed. Now, she wants to do more research on what to look for in a breeder.