Several Romano’s Jewelers locations across Southern California, including three in San Diego County, have recently closed or are in the process of shutting down, according to the business’ Chapter 7 bankruptcy trustee.

David Seror is R.J. Financial’s (a company that owns some Romano’s Jewelers stores) Chapter 7 trustee. He says the jewelry business has been dealing with bankruptcy issues for at least five years, and recently, it converted to a Chapter 7 case. Chapter 7 bankruptcy involves the appointment of a Trustee, who examines the business’s financials, and the business’s assets are generally liquidated in an attempt to reimburse creditors.

According to federal bankruptcy court documents, 79 entities have filed claims against R.J. Financial/Romano’s Jewelers. The total claim amount is nearly $58 million.

Seror’s job is to find money in order to pay back creditors, which include the IRS and state tax agencies. He recently closed three Romano’s Jewelers locations north of San Diego in Culver City, Downey and Northridge.

“The stores were not generating sufficient income to pay for payroll, rent and things like that, so I was forced to shut them down,” he said in an interview.

NBC 7 Investigates confirmed at least three other stores in San Diego County have closed. They include two in Carlsbad and one in downtown San Diego. An attorney for Romano’s explained in an email the closures were due to mall renovation issues. In the Carlsbad cases, the attorney wrote those closures were because “the mall is dead.”

NBC 7 Investigates checked with Westfield and received this emailed statement, “The center declines to comment on Romano’s Jewelers.”

In a separate investigation, our team told you about Romano’s Jewelers’ owner, Randy Abalkhad, and two employees who have been criminally charged in San Diego County with identity theft and conspiracy targeting military.

The charges involve accusations owner Randy Abalkhad, manager Carlos Torres and employee Nellie Noland stole private financial information of active-duty military members and added unauthorized charges on their store credit accounts.

Noland has pleaded guilty in the case.

Abalkhad and Torres have pleaded not guilty. Their next court appearance is September 1.

In regards to the Los Angeles-area stores, bankruptcy trustee Seror says he went to three of the locations in July and requested all of the businesses’ books and records. He says Abalkhad has not been cooperative. Seror has had to go to court to get additional orders to access store computers and documents.

Recently, Abalkhad and his attorney filed an appeal to the court order requiring Romano’s Jewelers to turn over records. Federal court documents show, Abalkhad argues there are other stores that share the “Romano’s Jewelers” name that, he says, are not linked to the locations in bankruptcy.

“We are investigating whether there is a relationship between the R.J. Financial stores and the Diamond Trading stores,” Seror said. Diamond Trading is another financial company that oversees other Romano’s Jewelers locations. Seror says Diamond Trading has operated stores in National City, Lakewood and Glendale.

“It’s far too early to predict how that’s going to turn out,” he said.

Ed Hays represents one of the 79 creditors. He says he’s concerned the owner of Romano’s Jewelers did not immediately hand over books and records to the Chapter 7 bankruptcy trustee.

“I don’t have a high level of confidence my client will be getting money,” Hays said.

When asked about the likelihood claimants will get the money they feel they’re owed by Romano’s Jewelers, Seror said, “It’s hard to say right now because we really need to wait for the liquidation.”

Seror says the process could take between 18 months and two years.

In a separate case involving Romano’s Jewelers, the California Department of Justice is investigating the business, although state officials would not talk about the scope of their investigation.

The Padres’ post-season hopes still look bleak in late August but rookie right-hander Colin Rea is providing a ray of light. The 25-year-old pitcher already owns a pair of victories on the mound after just two major league starts and is benefiting from strong run support early and often.

In Rea’s outings against the Reds and Braves, the Friars combined to rack up 14 runs – before the end of the 3rd inning. That extra wiggle room helps a young pitcher like Rea feel more comfortable when he makes a few mistakes which are inevitable. For example, former Padre Cameron Maybin unleashed the fury on a pitch Rea left over the plate Monday night, but that one swing doesn’t look so bad in the 4th when his club spots him a 3-0 cushion in the 2nd. It’s easier to shake it off and refocus with a 3-1 lead than a 1-0 deficit.

Even some of the best veteran pitchers in the bigs start to press when they don’t get an iota of run support. Rancho Bernardo product and current Texas Ranger Cole Hamels knows all about that during the past few seasons. Even back in 2010 while with Philadelphia, the Phillies did not score a single run in one-third of the games Hamels started when he was on the mound.

It’s just two starts so let’s not get carried away here. But Rea appears to have the makeup and the demeanor of a starting pitcher that can carve out some staying power in San Diego. And at a towering 6-foot-5, the Iowa native stands tall on the mound peering towards the batter’s box. If Andrew Cashner can turn the corner, James Shields, Rea and Cashner could be integral parts of the Padres rotation for years to come.

Rea is scheduled to close out this homestand with his 3rd big league start Sunday against the Cardinals. As Morgan Freeman’s character says in the movie Shawshank Redemption, “Hope is a good thing… maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies.” As the 2015 campaign winds down, maybe the Padres have a little bit more hope for the future thanks to this “Rea” of light as September unfortunately gets closer to San Diego than the standings.

Three men missing following an Alaska landslide are presumed dead and the search will be a "body recovery effort," an official said late Tuesday.

The landslides began at around 10 a.m. Tuesday, after heavy rains in coastal town of Sitka, city spokeswoman Sara Peterson told NBC station KTTU.

Peterson later told The Associated Press that the missing men are presumed dead and the search will be one of body recovery — a determination based, in part, "from the force of the slide and that kind of impact."

Earlier officials reported four people were missing but then said it was three.

A tropical depression in the Atlantic Ocean east of the Caribbean strengthened Tuesday to become the season's fourth tropical storm, and it is expected to become a hurricane by Thursday, forecasters said.

Tropical Storm Danny was about 1,500 miles east of the Windward Islands at 11 p.m. ET Saturday night and was moving west at around 14 miles per hour, the National Hurricane Center said.

The Weather Channel described the storm's movement as slow, and predicted it could be a week before Danny approaches the eastern Caribbean Sea.

The Chula Vista Police Department (CVPD) is expanding the number of body cameras available for the force and defining when and where officers use the devices.

The Chula Vista City Council approved funds to add a dozen new cameras to the CVPD’s current stock of 120.

“Those 120 cameras have served us well in the ensuing months,” said CVPD Capt. Vern Sallee. “However we've actually started building up our staff and realized that very shortly we are going to run out of cameras to deploy.”

The body cameras are not new to the department, which started testing the technology in 2010. But this year, after careful study, the CVPD decided to put its official body camera policy into place.

At issue in some cities is when to turn on the cameras. The San Diego Police Department underwent a change to its policy after an officer failed to activate his body camera before a deadly confrontation.

To develop its procedures, the CVPD worked with the ACLU, community groups and police unions. The department also looked at model policies at other agencies and took advice from police chiefs across the nation.

“So we took the best of what was out there that fit our community and fit our agency, took all that input and put it together,” said Sallee.

CVPD Capt. Lon Turner described when officers are required to switch on their cameras: “It's during anticipated enforcement. Any time an arrest is being made, officers responding to a call for help, a traffic stop, a field interview where somebody is acting suspiciously, that would be the appropriate time to turn on the body worn camera.”

Turner said the cameras are off at other times to protect citizens' privacy and allow people to approach officers and share information without worrying about being recorded.

Videos are only kept for 90 days, unless there is a criminal investigation. Turner said the video taken from body worn cameras are not technically subject to disclosure under the California Public Records Acts, but there may be exceptions.

“However there may be points and times, with the authority of the chief of police, we can disclose that, if we were compelled to do so or we felt it was in the public’s best interest to see the video,” he said.

The city has authorized $500,000 over five years to Taser International for the cameras and support systems. The most expensive part is storing video, which costs $80,000, but the department says the trust it builds with the community is worth the price tag.

Whatever Melvin Upton, Junior ate before Tuesday’s game he should probably put on the menu every night.

The artist formerly known as B.J. single-handedly crushed the Braves’ spirits with a pair of towering home runs against his former club, to help San Diego pummel Atlanta 9-0.

Padres pitcher James Shields also kept the visitors at bay with 7 strikeouts over 6 shutout innings to earn his first victory in over a month thanks to another offensive outburst by the Friars.

Yangervis Solarte smacked a 3-run bomb in the 6th a few batters after Upton’s first homer of the game. Upton then went yard again in the 7th and Derek Norris was along for the ride.

The Padres have now beaten Atlanta 9 straight times at Petco Park. San Diego improves to 6-2 in its last 8 contests and looks for the sweep Wednesday afternoon before getting Thursday off.
 

A brush fire in North County closed traffic lanes on westbound Highway 78 Tuesday night just east of Sycamore according to Caltrans.

CHP and Vista Fire closed the right lanes to bring in fire crews.

As of 10:20 pm crews had extinguished the fire, but lane three is still blocked.

As of 10:50 pm all lanes have been reopened for traffic.

Thai police released an electronic sketch Wednesday of the alleged suspect in the bombing of a Bangkok shrine that killed 22 people, NBC News reported.

The drawing shows a young man with glasses and is apparently based on the person seen in surveillance video leaving a backpack near the scene.

Police have offered a 1 million baht ($28,080) reward for information leading to his arrest.

Authorities said they were keeping watch for the suspect at the country's borders, but police chief Somyot Pumpanmuang told a news conference that it was not clear how many people were involved in the attack or if they were still in the country.

ISIS militants beheaded one of Syria's most prominent antiquities scholars in the ancient town of Palmyra, then strapped his body from one of the town's Roman columns, Syrian state media and an activist group said Wednesday, according to The Associated Press.

According to Syrian state-run news agency SANA and the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, 81-year-old Khaled al-Asaad was beheaded on Tuesday in a square outside the town's museum. The Observatory, which has a network of activists on the ground in Syria, said dozens of people gathered to witness the killing.

The killing of al-Asaad was the latest atrocity perpetrated by the militant group, which has captured a third of both Syria and Iraq. Since ISIS overran Palmyra in May, there have been fears the extremists, who have destroyed famed archaeological sites in Iraq, would demolish its 2,000-year-old Roman-era city at the town's edge, one of the Mideast's most spectacular archaeological sites.

Convicted killer Oscar Pistorius spent his 10 months in one of the world's most notorious prisons living in virtual isolation and benefiting from special treatment, according to a fellow inmate.

"Pistorius, he was a VIP prisoner," Boswell Mhlongo, an inmate at the maximum-security Kgosi Mapuru II in Pretoria, told NBC News. "I mean everything was free for him. He can do whatever he wants."

Mhlongo added: "How can you get your own gym, your own gym alone? Why the cell that we're in — we were never given curtains — but his cell was prepared special? Because he's got money. I mean it's Oscar Pistorius."

Prison officials did not respond to requests for comment about the allegations of special treatment for Pistorius, who received a five-year sentence in October following his conviction for culpable homicide after fatally shooting his model girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp at his home in Pretoria, South Africa.

The Pistorius family denies he was treated better than the average inmate.

The double-amputee Olympic athlete is expected to be released Friday to spend the remainder of his five-year sentence under house arrest. Nicknamed the "Blade Runner," Pistorius was reportedly so worried he would be poisoned while in prison that he lived on canned sardines and baked beans.

 San Diego Fire-Rescue (SDFD)  crews are fighting a brush fire running up a hill in the Tijuana River Valley. 

Officials said the report of the fire near Hollister Street and Monument Road first came in at 11:45 a.m. 

When crews arrived on scene, they found a 100 foot by 100 foot fire.

No structures are threatened. 

Check back for updates on this developing story. 

A portion of San Diego County has been put under quarantine after four adult male Mediterranean fruit flies were found in the La Mesa area.

The Mediterranean fruit fly (or Medfly) can cause severe danger to California agriculture exports because they can infest up to 250 different types of fruit and vegetables.

The quarantine is affecting 93 miles of San Diego county, bordered on the north by Prospect Avenue, on the South by Mount Miguel Road, on the west by Fairmount Avenue, and on the East by Vista Grande Road. The quarantine will only affect growers, wholesalers and retailers of susceptible fruit in the area. 

In order to eradicate the infestation, the United Sates Department of Agriculture (USDA) is working with the San Diego County Agricultural Commissioner and the CDFA to release sterile male Medflies into the affected area.

The release of these sterile flies began on August 10th at a rate of 250,000 per week.

While it may seem counter-intuitive to release more flies into the environment in order to stop an infestation, the sterile insect rearing facility in Los Alamitos has proven that this technique works.

When sterile male Medflies are released, they mate with fertile female flies but do not produce any offspring.

As the Medflies reach the end of their life cycle, they die off without ever producing a new generation of flies to replace them, thus decreasing the entire population. This technique is used on a daily basis over the Los Angeles basin in order to keep Medfly populations low all across Southern California.

In addition to releasing sterile male flies, properties within 200 square meters of detected infestations are being treated with an organic formulation of Spinosad.

Originating from naturally-occurring bacteria found in the soil, Spinosad is being used to eliminate any mated females and reduce the overall density of the population.

The final step towards containing this outbreak is the removal of fruit within 100 meters of detected areas to prevent the spread of any fruit infested with Medfly eggs or larvae.

If you are a home gardener, it is recommended that you do not take your produce off site until the Medflies are under control.

If you believe you fruits and vegetables may be infested with Medfly larvae, you are encouraged to call the state’s toll-free Pest Hotline at 1-800-491-1899. A current map of the quarantine can be found by clicking this link.

Prosecutors said a driver suspected of DUI ditched a vodka bottle after hitting a woman in a San Carlos intersection and pushing her more than 57 feet down the street, where she died.

With tears in their eyes, the family of Rocio De Anda Leamon, 38, faced the man accused of killing her: Joshua Daniel Taylor, 38.

Taylor pleaded not guilty Tuesday to all charges and allegations against him, stemming from the crash that killed Leamon on Aug. 13.

According to Deputy District Attorney Steven Schott, Taylor had a blood alcohol content of 0.23 — nearly four times the legal limit — when he ran a red light and struck Leamon as she crossed Navajo Road just before 6:30 p.m.

“He was going at a very high rate of speed,” said Schott. “He struck Ms. Leamon, carried her down the road, carried her 57 feet.” Her body landed face down on the pavement, and the married mother of three was pronounced dead 30 minutes later.

Immediately after the crash, Schott said Taylor tried to get rid of some incriminating evidence.

"We know that a witness saw him take something out and put something down in that area, and officers recovered a vodka bottle right there," said Schott.

According to the prosecutor, Taylor admitted to officers at the scene that he had been drinking and driving. When asked if he knew the risk of driving under the influence, Taylor allegedly told drivers it was “common sense.”

He has two prior DUI convictions: one from 1996 and the second from 2000.

Taylor was charged Tuesday with murder, gross vehicular manslaughter and driving under the influence of alcohol causing injury, all of which he denied. He is being held on a $2 million bond.

For the murder charge, he could face 15 years to life in prison, and the same punishment could come from the manslaughter charge because of his prior convictions, the prosecutor said.

His preliminary hearing is scheduled for Oct. 27.

An explosion reduced a large section of a Motel 6 near Seattle to rubble late Tuesday only moments after it was evacuated due to a gas leak.

Firefighters who were on scene in Bremerton, Washington, at the time were blown back nearly 20 feet, police said. A gas company worker was critically injured by the blast and was flown by air ambulance to a hospital with second- and third-degree burns.

A gas leak was reported shortly before 8 p.m. local time (11 p.m. ET). Motel workers and patrons were able to evacuate just prior to the blast, which happened at 8:24 p.m., authorities say. 

A fire official told NBC News that three motel guests are unaccounted for and crews at the scene are digging through rubble for the bodies of the missing.

Witnesses described “huge flames” and “dark smoke” in newly released 911 audio calls minutes after the two planes collided midair south of San Diego Sunday morning.

“I see two planes have just collided mid-stride and came down on the ground. There’s flames and fire everywhere,” one man said when he called dispatchers.

Five people were killed when a twin-engine Sabreliner and single-engine Cessna 172 collided at approximately 11 a.m. Sunday morning, officials said.

In several frantic 911 calls released to NBC7, witnessed told dispatchers of a midair explosion they heard near the border and the flames to follow. This is the first time NBC7 has heard from multiple witnesses of the crash.

“Yes, I just saw a huge explosion behind East Lake High School. . .It’s up in the air right now,” one caller said.

“There was a huge flame and dark smoke,” he added.

A caller from the Otay Mesa Border Entry called in to report seeing the flames, telling dispatchers “we just had a midair collision.”

“As I’m looking to my left side where all the fields are, either an aircraft or something exploded in the air and crash landed into a mountain and is catching fire into the brush,” a woman who called 911 said.

The fiery collision ignited several brush fires nearby which were quickly put out by ground and air crews. Debris was spattered across two circular crash sites at least a mile apart.

The Sabreliner involved in the crash was leased by military contractor BAE Systems on a mission training flight and the Cessna involved was on a cross-country trip, NTSB investigator Andrew Swick.

Carlos Palos, John Kovach and Jeff Percy died after the Sabreliner they were traveling in crashed, according to their employer BAE Systems. The pilot of the Cessna was identified as Michael A. Copeland of San Diego. The fifth remaining victim has not been identified. 

"BAE Systems was alerted this afternoon that a small aircraft carrying its employees collided with another," the company said in a statement to NBC7, adding that its "employees and their families are our first priority and we are prepared to offer all our support."

NBC 7 has reached out to the families of the victims. Percy's mother sent us this statement: "He was the sweetest son you could ever ask for and he was an excellent pilot."

Both planes were approaching Brown Field Municipal Airport, a local airport close to the U.S.-Mexico border, said FAA spokesman Ian Gregor.

The details of the crash are under investigation by the FAA and NTSB.

A popular downtown San Diego bakery has a sweet offer those with a sweet tooth: classes hosted at the shop that cover everything from jam and cookies to Pinterest-perfect cakes.

Bake Sale Bakery – located at 815 F St. – will begin its “BAKE!” series of classes Wednesday with a course dubbed “All Things Yeasted,” in which students will learn the basis of home bread baking, including mixing and techniques. Students will learn to make sandwich loaves, flatbreads, pizza dough, doughnuts and Bake Sale’s signature English muffins in the class.

The shop says the baking classes – for enthusiasts of all skill levels – will be led by head baker Jenn Reinhart and proprietor Terryl Gavre. They cost $75 per person, and include all of the ingredients and goodies to take home. Each class runs from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.

Five additional classes will follow Wednesday’s course, sprinkled throughout the fall season.

This includes “Come Jam With Us” on Sept. 2, featuring ripe, seasonal fruits to make jams and chutneys, and “Cookies: Fun to Fancy” on Sept. 23, teaching the basics of scaling, mixing and baking a variety of cookies, including some serious show-stoppers.

On Oct. 7, the bakery will host “Pinterest-Perfect Birthday Cakes,” a delicious demo to building and crumb-coating a layer cake, plus some decorating tips.

Playing off the fall season, “The Great Pumpkin” class on Oct. 21 will showcase some of Bake Sale’s best pumpkin dishes, including pie, cheesecake, bars and breads for holiday entertaining.

The final class on Nov. 4 – “Cupcakes 101” – will teach students basic techniques for mixing, filling and decorating cupcakes.

For more info on the classes, visit the Bake Sale website.

Bake Sale is open daily from 7:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. The shop, which offers pastries, desserts and sandwiches, opened in downtown’s East Village area last year.
 

A former car dealership owner in Calexico pleaded guilty in federal court Tuesday to laundering tens of thousands of dollars in drug money through vehicle sales after an undercover operation by law enforcement.

Undercover IRS officers led Ignacio Gonzalez, former owner of Del Valle Auto Sales in Calexico, to believe they had cars that were the proceeds of drug trafficking.

According to the plea agreement, Gonzalez transferred and delivered funds from the sale of the cars. He also failed to file currency transaction reports required by law when he received $19,420 in cash and $24,500 in cash.

He agreed to give ownership of the vehicles to generic names, manipulated the purchase agreements, made false reports and agreed not to report the cash transactions to the IRS.

Gonzalez must pay the $43,920 from the car sales and a $20,000 fine.

He is scheduled for sentencing Nov. 4 and could face up to a $500,000 fine and 20 years in prison.

A dispute between neighbors in the Chicago suburb of Glen Ellyn that was sparked by the stench of dog waste in a yard took an unusual turn when one of the parties involved retaliated by painting the side of her home in bright colors.

Neighbors in the 400 block of Longfellow Avenue in Glen Ellyn began complaining about the number of dogs living in Julie Dombrowski's home earlier this summer. They also complained about the stench of dog waste, which they said Dombrowski was not picking up.

Dombrowski, 54, was issued a citation on July 24 for exceeding the maximum number of pets. She owns four pets, but village code only allows three.

Dombrowski received the citation after neighbors complained to police. One day later, someone began painting the siding of the home in bright colors on just one wall. The rest of the home remains white.

Neighbors say the paint job was done in retaliation to their complaints.

"Just a finger in the air, that's what it looked like, and basically that's what we've been told it was," Mary Beth Speer, a neighbor, said.

The Glen Ellyn planning and development office has since received complaints from neighbors about the color of the home, but village officials say Dombrowski is not violating any codes with the paint job because there are no regulations of colors to single-family homes.

Environmental Health Services at the DuPage County Health Department also received complaints about dog waste in the yard. They conducted an inspection of the property on July 31 and issued a notice of violation to the owner, according to a spokesperson for the department. EHS gave the owner until Aug. 31 to clean up the dog waste.

Neighbors described the situation to NBC Chicago as "obnoxious" and "sad." They said this kind of conflict is not the norm among neighbors.

NBC Chicago attempted to reach out to Dombrowski but was unable to contact her.

Mosquitoes may be the newest unwanted group at this year's Burning Man.

Burning Man blogger John Curley wrote that the winged creatures are in biting abundance this year in Gerlach, Nevada, near the stretch of desert that becomes Black Rock City from Aug. 30 to Sept. 7. 

Curley said that the region's intermittent light rain throughout spring and summer has brought the bugs into the area.

"We're not sure yet how bad it will be out on the playa," he wrote, "but be smart and pack some lavender oil or bug spray or whatever you use."

A representative from Burning Man's communication team told NBC Bay Area that the organization is looking into whether mosquitoes may pose health hazards on the playa.

This year's tickets sold out in approximately 80 minutes.

A young golden retriever whose resilience is described as "absolutely remarkable" was recovering Tuesday at a Southern California animal hospital after a rescue group found him surrendered at an animal shelter with a third-degree burn.

The dog, a 1- or 2-year-old pup now named Fergus, was found at a shelter in Lancaster with a burn along his back, from his neck all the way to his tail.

“It breaks your heart,” said Barbara Gale of the Southern California Golden Retriever Rescue group, which rescues surrendered golden retrievers from San Diego to Santa Barbara. “What did dogs ever do to anyone except bring love and joy? That’s what they’re on earth for.”

The same day NBC stations across the country were helping to Clear the Shelters on Saturday, Gale said the shelter handed over Fergus to be treated.

“It just was sick,” Gale said. “I was sick and my only thought was, 'How quickly can we get him?'”

“He was scared. He was very very scared when we first got him and confused,” she said, adding that he suffered a seizure when they first got him.

It is believed it was possible the person responsible for harming Fergus could have harmed other dogs. Gale said she heard there was another dog brought in the same week as Fergus with similar wounds.

The Animal Medical Center in West LA is caring for Fergus now, at limited cost to the rescue group. Dr. Alan Schulman said Fergus came in with severe tissue damage. On Thuesday night, Fergus began receiving laser therapy for the wound along his back.

“He hurt,” Dr. Schulman said. “There is no way you do not feel substantial pain and discomfort if you have this type of third-degree burn.”

For Fergus, named after an Irish word meaning "powerful," his tail-wagging hasn’t stopped since he awoke from his sedation.

“The fact that this guy still trusts people, wags his tail and will let us treat him considering the horrendous way that some person hurt him, is absolutely remarkable,” Dr. Schulman said.

Schulman said he did not believe the dog was set on fire, but rather something more sinister.

“It’s not the first one we’ve seen where some deranged individual goes ahead and pours battery acid or some other chemical up and down their back,” he said.

Dr. Schulman noted that Fergus is a loving dog that is easy to get close to when he is given attention. He said whoever harmed Fergus probably tried to pour the acid on his head but Fergus moved.

There has been no word on who may have done this to Fergus, but Gale says she has a feeling she knows the “type,” saying, “Only a coward, a bully, can do this.”

Dr. Schulman went a step further, crediting his South Bronx upbringing for his feelings, saying, “I’d be the first one to line up and hold him down and pour whatever chemical he poured on this dog right over him.”

The Golden Retriever Rescue group set up a GoFundMe site to help with the costs of Fergus’ care, with any amount over the goal amount going to helping the group’s cause of helping other surrendered dogs. To make a donation, click here.

For information on adopting Fergus, you can speak directly with the rescue here.