Former Humboldt resident gets prison term in multi-state animal cruelty case

A former Humboldt resident is headed to prison for a prolonged animal cruelty case that stretched from Grants Pass to Selma and Cave Junction, exposing neglect allegations across two states and leaving Joseph Larue with consecutive prison terms in California and Oregon.

Larue was sentenced in Josephine County, Oregon, to 80 months in prison after pleading guilty to multiple charges tied to an animal neglect investigation that began in 2022. The Oregon term will run after a California sentence already imposed in Humboldt County Superior Court, where Larue was sentenced on Nov. 18, 2025, in case CR2403294 to five years in state prison with 713 days of credit for time already served. State prison records show he was admitted to North Kern State Prison on Dec. 19, 2025.

The case began after complaints about Pawsitive K9 Solutions in Grants Pass, where Josephine County deputies and animal control officers executed a search warrant in September 2022. Investigators recovered 13 dogs at different levels of malnourishment, and some needed immediate veterinary care. A later search at Larue’s Selma residence turned up one horse and one rabbit dead, along with 16 other animals, including another horse, dogs, cats and chickens, living in poor conditions without food or water.

In 2023, deputies also recovered 10 dogs from a garage in Cave Junction while serving a search warrant connected to a stolen John Deere tractor. Larue left Oregon while charges were pending, then was later located in Humboldt County, which turned the case into a multi-jurisdiction process that dragged on for nearly four years before his removal from Humboldt County in December 2025.

Along with prison time, Larue must pay $104,000 in restitution, most of it owed to the Josephine County Animal Shelter. His then-wife, Danielle Larue, also identified as Danielle Brown, was sentenced to 60 days for her role in the case.

Josephine County officials say animal protection is handled as core public-safety work through the sheriff’s Animal Control Division, which investigates abuse and cruelty complaints and impounds animals. The Josephine County Animal Shelter is an open-admissions shelter that takes in animals from legal cases and provides veterinary care and adoption services, a reminder of the strain these prosecutions place on local agencies when abuse crosses county and state lines.