Two people face animal cruelty charges after sheriff's deputies found two dead horses at a home just off of Highway 149. Franklin County Sheriff's Deputies arrested and charged 57-year-old Debbie A. Mandrell and 80-year-old John F. Hargis with animal cruelty.
The pair lived at the property along with the horses.
"I'm very shocked, and I'm a huge animal lover so that really breaks my heart," said Tracy Smith, who lives nearby.
Court documents accuse Mandrell and Hargis of intentionally killing the horses by locking them in a barn without food and water.
Smith said she remembers the animals, named in court documents as Gad and Cherokee, well.
"They were like Indian ponies, they were spotted," Smith said.
Police believe the animals lay dead for months before their discovery. Neighbors said the last time they had seen the two horses was 6 months ago. At that time the pasture where they used to graze became wildly overgrown, and the horses were nowhere in sight.
"That's horrible. I would be really upset, I didn't even known this was down the road from me," said Cady Holman, who lives nearby.
Hargis and Mandrell both face felony charges. Holman calls their arrest, "justice served."
"I mean if it was me and I did something like that, I would expect felony charges or worse. But I wouldn't do anything like that," Holman said.
Warrants were issued Sept. 7 for Debbie A. Mandrell, 57, and John F. Hargis, 80, who both reside at the property. The warrants charge two counts each of aggravated cruelty to animals and cruel treatment to a companion animal. Bond is set at $25,000.
Mandrell surrendered at the sheriff’s office the same day, and was released on $2,500 cash bond. Hargis was arrested Sept. 9 at his residence and is being held pending bail.
(The Southern - Sept 9, 2016)
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