ANSONIA – Two out of three men accused of abusing dogs in a Condon Drive house could take their cases to trial, while the third took a plea deal earlier this year.
Javon Coverson, Assante Coverson, and Hezekiah Johnson-Coverson were each charged with animal cruelty and related offenses after officers with a search warrant seized more than a dozen animals from their home in June 2024.
Two years later, Javon Coverson and Hezekiah Johnson-Coverson are on the list of trials to be scheduled. Assante Coverson pled guilty to one count of cruelty to animals and is serving a one-year sentence.
Here’s an update on each of the cases, based on court documents reviewed by The Valley Indy Aug. 6.
Background
Police first began looking into the Condon Drive home shortly after a shooting in Ansonia on May 14, 2024. Details of that incident are not in the case file.
According to court documents, a detective found a vehicle parked at the house which he believed was used in the shooting. Police seized the vehicle and also obtained a search warrant for the home.
Before police searched the house, Ansonia Animal Control Officer Jeanie Roslonowski had reached out to police and told them she believed the home was being used for an illegal dog breeding operation. She said she had once picked up a roaming dog which she believed came from the home.
Police raided the property June 6, 2024, and contacted animal control after allegedly finding emaciated dogs, urine, and feces throughout the house and attached garage.
In total, responding officers removed 11 dogs and three cats from the home. They also removed one dead dog which was allegedly left in a garbage bag. The garbage bag was recovered from a garden cart in woods near the house.
Assante and Javon Coverson were arrested the same day. Hezekiah Johnson-Coverson, who was not home during the search, was arrested a month later, after he allegedly called police and said one of the emaciated dogs belonged to him.
Javon Coverson
Police said in court documents that Javon Coverson ran an illegal dog breeding operation in Ansonia and Shelton.
After Javon was arrested in Ansonia, Shelton police were contacted by a woman who requested a welfare check for an apartment connected to him on Howe Avenue. She reported smelling a foul odor coming from the apartment and that no one was answering the door.
On June 19, 2024, Shelton officers went to the apartment and allegedly saw an emaciated pit bull through a window. After being let into the apartment with a key, police found the floor covered in dog feces and urine, a warrant says.
The pit bull was taken to the vet for treatment and testing and was housed at the shelter afterward.
Police were told Javon Coverson lived at the property as a squatter, after a girlfriend named on the lease moved to Virginia.
Coverson, 32, was charged in Shelton with one count of animal cruelty, along with eight counts of animal cruelty in Ansonia, seven counts of failure to comply with rabies vaccination requirements, and seven counts of failure to comply with dog ownership requirements.
He entered a not guilty plea on March 26, 2025, according to court documents. On May 26, 2026, he rejected a plea offer, the terms of which were not disclosed.
His court case is currently on the list of trials to be scheduled. He is represented by attorney Caroline Baird, who also works as part of Ansonia’s corporation counsel. Baird declined to comment on the current status of the case.
Assante Coverson
During the Ansonia police search, Assante Coverson was at home with Javon. In the basement, police found a mastiff named Niya who was “emaciated, not properly groomed, and had an eye infection with pus in both eyes.”
Police questioned Assante regarding Niya, and Assante was unable to provide vaccination paperwork and licensing for the dog.
Assante Coverson, 29, was charged with one count each of animal cruelty, failure to comply with rabies vaccination requirements, and failure to comply with dog ownership requirements.
He pled guilty to the charges May 26. He was sentenced July 24 to 364 days in prison and two years’ probation.
The prison sentence is suspended after 90 days. That means he’ll be released at that point, but will have to serve out the rest of his sentence if he violates the terms of his probation afterward.
Assante entered an Alford plea, which means he disputes some of the facts of the case but acknowledges there is enough evidence for a conviction. The plea still counts as a guilty plea.
Desmond’s Army, an animal welfare advocacy group whose members have regularly attended the Coversons’ court appearances in Derby, celebrated the sentence in a Facebook post.
“He will serve real jail time for the suffering he inflicted on multiple dogs and cats found living in filth, starvation, and disease,” the group wrote.
Assante Coverson was represented by New Haven attorney Brittany Paz. Paz did not return a call for comment.
Hezekiah Johnson-Coverson
Hezekiah Johnson-Coverson’s case is also on the trial list alongside Javon’s, but his attorney said he’s hopeful a deal can be struck.
“I’m not prepared to say that a disposition can’t be reached, even though the case is on the trial list,” said Michael Boynton, Johnson-Coverson’s attorney.
Police searching the Condon Drive home in 2024 allegedly found a micro pit bull named Lotta in Hezekiah’s bedroom. Officers found Lotta, underweight with her rib cage and spine protruding, lying on a bed surrounded by piles of clothes and personal belongings.
Officers also noted “remnants of fecal matter” and dried puddles of urine on the bedroom floor, and did not see any food or water bowls in the room.
Veterinarians who examined Lotta found that her gums were white, indicating anemia, and found flea feces and skin and ear infections on Lotta.
Hezekiah, who was not home at the time of the search, allegedly called police later that month and discussed Lotta with them. During the conversation, he allegedly said he owned the dog since she was a puppy and that he had not taken her in for rabies shots.
Hezekiah Johnson-Coverson, 25, was charged July 5, 2024, with one count each of animal cruelty, failure to comply with rabies vaccination requirements, and failure to comply with dog ownership requirements.
In 2025, Hezekiah applied for the state’s accelerated rehabilitation program, a program which allows people to avoid jail and have their cases dismissed in exchange for meeting certain requirements. Although he was marked ‘eligible’ for the program, his application was rejected after animal advocates stepped in.
Jim Fiore and Lori Mizerak, two attorneys who have been acting as court-appointed animal advocates for each of the three Coversons’ cases, filed a letter opposing the application in September 2025.
“The allegations involved in this case are of a very serious nature in that they involve conduct which resulted in the significant injury of an animal,” the attorneys wrote. “As Lotta suffered, locked in defendant’s bedroom, the defendant had the opportunity to end this suffering and neglect. Day after day, year after year, defendant chose not to.”
Hezekiah rejected a plea deal and was placed on the trial list May 26. A series of trial motions were filed by Boynton, his attorney, on May 29.
Boynton said there could be an update on the negotiations before a trial begins.
“The progress that was being made got to a point where it didn’t lead to a disposition. So then, as a result, the cases were posted to the trial list, but I’m a ‘never say never’ guy,” Boynton said. “So could the negotiations pick up again? Yeah, absolutely. Will they? I think. Most likely.”