Charlie’s story highlights the ongoing issue of animal abandonment in Idaho. While it can be frustrating for rescues and shelters to turn animals away due to limited space or resources, pet owners have a responsibility to actively seek new homes for their animals. This can include posting on social media, requesting courtesy posts from rescues and shelters, putting up flyers, and sharing information at local veterinary clinics and feed stores. There are many steps you can take to rehome your pets and livestock—it’s your responsibility as an owner. Blaming already overwhelmed rescues and shelters is unfair, as their resources are needed for animals in true crisis who require urgent assistance.
On January 14, 2025, you may have seen our post on Facebook seeking information about a man who dumped a male Malinois dog near our rescue in Lewiston, Idaho. The day before, on January 13, 2025, the same man had come to our rescue asking us to take the dog in. He claimed that while driving from Kamiah, ID, to Lewiston, he found the dog loose on the highway. Upon meeting the dog, I noticed he was neutered. Unfortunately, our microchip scanner was with another volunteer, but I suspected that the dog was likely microchipped because of his neuter status. I offered the man a couple of options to have the dog scanned for a microchip in hopes of reuniting him with his owner, and the man left.
What I didn’t realize until the next morning was that the man had simply driven a block or two away and dumped the dog. Fortunately, good Samaritans found him shortly after he was abandoned and took him to the Lewis Clark Animal Shelter. After seeing a post on Facebook about the dog being “found,” I immediately recognized him as the same dog I had met the previous day with the man. I reached out to the shelter, where I learned there was even more to the story.
It turns out that the man had gone to the shelter before coming to us, trying to get them to take the dog. He told them the same story about finding the dog on the highway, but because the dog was allegedly found outside of the shelter’s jurisdiction, they were unable to accept him and referred him to us. The shelter staff didn’t recognize the dog when he came in that morning because he had not brought the dog inside with him.
We then posted a photo on our Facebook page using images from our security cameras. Not only was the man quickly identified, but the dog was as well. The dog, Charlie (also known as Rue), had been adopted in early December 2024 by this man and his wife through a rescue in Idaho County. Charlie had previously been abandoned by his original owner, who moved out of state and left him to fend for himself. Thankfully, the Animal Rescue Foundation took him in.
Charlie’s microchip was registered to his wife, Melissa (Missy) Warner (also using Mel Friedrick on Facebook). The man seen in the security footage was Erik Friedrick, Melissa’s husband. However, Erik uses the name Freddy Thorton on Facebook. Why would he use a different name online? Was it because he is a registered sex offender trying to fly under the radar? On the very day we released the images and made the post about Charlie’s abandonment, Erik changed his Facebook profile picture from his own photo to one of a truck. Meanwhile, Melissa Warner Friedrick locked down her Facebook account and went into hiding.
We also discovered that Erik Friedrick has active misdemeanor cases in Idaho County, not only related to Charlie but to another dog as well. Furthermore, we can now confirm that Erik Ray Friedrick faces a misdemeanor charge in Nez Perce County (CR35-25-0741) for allegedly abandoning Charlie. Charlie has been recently adopted from Lewis Clark Animal Shelter.
We did email Idaho County Prosecutor, Kirk MacGregor, with all of this information and more. Our hopes are that Mr. MacGregor will keep in mind this pattern of behavior as he oversees Mr. Friedrick’s case(s) in Idaho County.
