On Monday, Dec. 30, Mason County Sheriff Patrick Boggs was at the home of George Samuel Jones of Key Pike, after receiving tips of a dead horse in a field.
Boggs responded to the property around 5 p.m., and found 16 horse carcasses in various states of decomposition around the property.
Boggs said since Dec. 24, his department has responded to the property for animals running at large four times. Monday's situation was the fifth time law enforcement has been at the property within a week.
Boggs said a complaint of 16 counts of failure to properly dispose of a carcass within 48 hours and one count cruelty to animals has been filed against Jones.
Shane Mitchell with the Kentucky Department of Agriculture also responded to the scene and is assisting in the investigation.
By law, property owners are to dispose of livestock carcasses by either digging a ditch and covering the carcass with lime, or have the carcass removed.
In 2010, Jones was charged with 30 counts of animal cruelty and six counts of failure to dispose of a carcass properly within 48 hours.
The charges were the result of an investigation initiated by MCSO after a resident of Key Pike complained to officials of dead and malnourished horses at Jones' property around Jan. 19, 2010. The investigation determined 30 horses and donkeys in Jones' custody had been allowed to go without food and water; the neglect resulted in the death of six horses.
The case was settled through a plea agreement in December 2010. As part of the deal, Jones plead guilty to all of the original charges, plus one additional charge of disposition of carcass within 48 hours that was filed against him in October 2010.
Jones was given 180 days in jail, which was probated two years, with a condition he find new owners for his remaining horses.
Boggs said Jones was just recently released from probation for the 2010 violations.
On Tuesday, seven horses and mules were removed from the Key Pike farm and relocated to the stockyard on Kentucky 9.
The case remains under investigation.
(Maysville Online - Dec 31, 2013)
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