Judge dismisses lawsuit filed by Flake’s son, ex-wife

Flaky Austin Flake and Logan Brown try and fail in another attempt to get rich on the backs of Maricopa County taxpayers

Federal Judge Neil Wake has dismissed the lawsuit brought by Austin Flake and his now ex-wife Logan, who has reclaimed her maiden name of Brown.

The case stemmed from dismissed animal cruelty charges the duo faced in the June 2014 heat related suffocation deaths of nearly two dozen dogs they supposedly were caring for at Green Acre Kennel in Gilbert. The facility was owned by Logan’s mother and step-father, MaLeisa and Jesse “Todd” Hughes, who were vacationing in Florida when the gruesome deaths occurred.

When the Flakes’ checked the kennel on the hot June 20th morning and witnessed the horrific scene, they did not call for veterinary assistance, opting to hose down the dying dogs, then callously piled their dead carcasses in a shed.

The pets sweltered to death, packed together in a steamy utility room, lacking air-conditioning. They had neither food nor water in their stomachs, according to the veterinarian who performed necropsies on the dogs.

On October 14, 2014, a Grand Jury indicted both couples with 21 felony counts and 7 misdemeanor counts of cruelty to animals. Ultimately Logan’s parents served short sentences on fraud charges involving lying to the owners of the pets, telling them their dogs ran away. The Hughes’ took plea deals in lieu of going to trial. As defendants, each pleaded guilty to one count of facilitation to commit fraudulent schemes and artifices, and one count of cruelty to animals, both Class 6 felonies. Their sentences included 23 days in jail without the possibility of work release, work furlough, home detention or compliance monitoring.  The days they served equaled one day per dead dog.

After Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery dropped the 21 felony charges and 7 misdemeanor counts of cruelty to animals against Austin and Logan Flake, the actual responsible parties, they filed a lawsuit against the taxpayers of Maricopa County and Sheriff Joe Arpaio, seeking $8 million to resurrect their formerly pristine reputations. They claim they were targeted by the Sheriff’s office and their characters were ruined by the investigation. A few $million each could go a long way to soothe their hurt feelings. Fortunately that effort went nowhere.

With their eyes still on the money prize, they angled for another civil trial, this time against the sheriff’s investigative detective.

But Judge Wake has now dismissed that lawsuit, ruling their attorney Stephen Montoya hadn’t provided evidence the detective intended to deprive the Flakes’ of their rights. Read the judge’s order.

SRAZ has written extensively about this tragic set of circumstances and the appalling flakes. Let’s hope this is the last we hear of these grifters.