WHO LET THE DOGS OUT? Homeless man arrested in vet clinic burglary after letting dogs loose

A homeless man was arrested Saturday after telling an Okaloosa County Sheriff's Office deputy that he let all the dogs out of a local veterinary clinic.

"They were going to kill them all, so I had to let them out," 47-year-old Ronald Kasterke told the deputy, according to his arrest report.

He was charged with criminal mischief and burglary of an unoccupied dwelling, which is a felony, the report said.

A woman had notified the sheriff's office earlier that several dogs were running loose in front of The Village Veterinarian Clinic on Stahlman Avenue. She said she had tried to contact someone inside the clinic and that when she opened the door, Kasterke walked out.

There were about 30 dogs boarding there at the time, but only half of them left their kennels, according to a clinic employee.

"Some of them just weren't smart enough to push that gate open because he pushed up all the latches," said the employee, who did not give her last name. "It was very chaotic. Lots of head counts."

Only two of the dogs weren't immediately recovered. The first was located Saturday night and the other wasn't found until Monday morning.

Skeeter, a mixed breed dog, was on the lam until Monday morning when clinic employees found her sitting in front of the door.

Skeeter apparently spent part of Saturday afternoon riding around in a golf cart with the security guard at HarborWalk. He gave her food and water and tried to find her owner, but lost her when Skeeter ran away as he was calling PAWS.

"That's the last they saw of her," said her owner, Jeanne Ashley. "The guard was so upset."

Ashley, who lives near the Walton County line, said that Skeeter may have returned to the clinic because her other dog, an arthritic collie named Darby, was still there.

"He was her partner in crime," Ashley said.

Of the dogs that had been released, she was the last to be recovered. None of the dogs were injured.