Ariton man, Joey Senn, pleads guilty in 21-count animal cruelty case

ALABAMA -- An Ariton man recently pleaded guilty to nearly two dozen animal cruelty charges, involving the neglect of multiple dogs, including six that died.

Dale County Sheriff’s Chief Investigator Harvey Mathis said Joey Senn, 39, pleaded guilty to 21 misdemeanor counts of animal cruelty.

Deputies arrested Senn on Oct. 26, about six days after investigators seized the dogs from his home on Dale County Road 122 in Ariton. Mathis said six of the dogs died because of their health condition.

The dogs seized by deputies varied in breed, Mathis said. They included some pit bulls, but most were hunting dogs.

Mathis said after Senn pleaded guilty, Dale County District Court Judge Stan Garner sentenced him to a 12-month suspended jail term for each charge, which was ordered to run concurrently with each other.

But Mathis said Garner also ordered Senn to pay $1,846 in restitution for the boarding and veterinarian bills involved in the case. Senn was also ordered to pay a $250 fine and $233 in court costs.

Mathis said as part of the sentence ordered by the court, upon payment of the restitution Senn will get six of the dogs back. But as a condition of him getting the dogs back, Mathis said investigators will be allowed to periodically check on their welfare.

 

“If we find those dogs are being mistreated we have the right to seize them again,” Mathis said. “We take animal cruelty cases very serious. We will investigate them, and the Dale County District Attorney’s Office will prosecute them.”

When the dogs were seized, investigators said bones were visible under the skin on some of the dogs as they ran around the property. Water for the dogs appeared darkened with dirt and leaves, and some empty bags of dog food were found nearby.

Mathis said eight of the dogs originally seized remain held at the Ozark Animal Shelter, and are up for adoption. He also said one of the dogs was returned to another area resident, who was its original owner.

Mathis called the seizure the largest by the department in at least four years.

Attorney Terry Bullard, who represented Senn in court, said his client had picked up some of the dogs at a garbage dump site, and had been trying to nurse them back to health.

“He had another dog that he’d lost hunting that was in bad shape too,” Bullard said. “The rest of the dogs were alive. They were skinny, but were working dogs. He hunted with them.”

Bullard said there wasn’t anything wrong with some of the dogs.

“I wouldn’t have represented him if I thought he’d have mistreated the dogs,” Bullard said. “This is the first time I’ve ever known for them to let them have any of the dogs back.”
(Dothan Eagle - Nov 17, 2011)