Greene County Sheriff’s Office gets new explosives K-9

GREENE COUNTY — The Greene County Sheriff’s Office recently added a new recruit to their roster.

K-9 Maugli is a one-and-a-half-year-old Belgian Malinois that specializes in patrol, explosives and gun detection.

Maugli’s handler, Cpl. Nicholas Gustovich, trained at the Pittsburgh Police K-9 Academy for 12 weeks, and the pair recently received their certification.

“Corporal Gustovich has a dedication and passion to the K9 program and showed that through devoting the past three months to training in Pittsburgh,” Sheriff Marcus Simms said.

Greene County Sheriff’s Office gets new explosives K-9 Pictured from left to right, Sheriff Marcus Simms, Commissioner Blair Zimmerman, VP at Waynesburg University Stacey Brodak, (Center front) Corporal Nicholas Gustovich and K9 Maugli, (Center rear) Commissioner Mike Belding, Training and Operations Officer Richie Police, Commissioner Betsy McClure and Director of Emergency Services Don Mason (Greene County Sheriff's Office)

This K-9 will be utilized at county facilities, local schools, Waynesburg University and businesses that may have safety concerns. Maugli will also assist other law enforcement personnel with bomb threats and high-profile events that require searches.

The acquisition was made possible through Region 13 funding and the Greene County Emergency Management Department.

Part of the Region 13 program supplied the necessary equipment for the K-9 and K-9 handler but not the cost of an additional upfitted vehicle. Waynesburg University donated $65,000 for the K-9 vehicle.

The explosives K-9 team will be an addition to the county’s active narcotics team.

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