Case Details

At least 12 pets poisoned to death
Madisonville, TN (US)

Incident Date: Tuesday, Jan 31, 2006
County: Monroe
Local Map: available
Disposition: Convicted

Abusers/Suspects:
» James Mark Mills
» Dennis Gerald Plemons

Case ID: 10326
Classification: Poisoning
Animal: dog (non pit-bull), other wildlife
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Animal was offleash or loose
Abuse was retaliation against animal's bad behavior
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James Mark Mills peddled death in a Mason jar.

Just ask Monroe Countians Johnnie and Conward Cline. They lost two dogs to Mills' fatal decision to sell a man poisonous pesticides for $20.

Check with Bennett and Mildred Stakely. Three of their dogs died. Freddy McNabb lost his dog; Avery Hughes saw two pets die. Chris Watson and Timothy Harden each watched a pet suffer a horrible fate. Two of Corey Gardner's dogs were killed.

That doesn't count the wildlife poisoned - hawks, barn owls, gray foxes, opossums, skunks and coyotes.

Death and carnage were delivered by Mills to Dennis Gerald Plemons in a Mason jar - 16 tiny ounces of Carbofuran, a highly regulated pesticide that Mills was trained to know how to handle and should have known better than to use to kill pesky birds or peddle to Plemons to protect cattle, Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Morris noted in court records filed on Dec 12 in U.S. District Court.

Mills pleaded guilty on Dec 12 before U.S. District Magistrate Judge Clifford Shirley to federal charges involving the improper dispensing and use of the deadly pesticide. Plemons earlier this year struck a deal with state prosecutors in Monroe County in which he admitted 11 counts, including causing the deaths of 12 pets, some of which documents alleged died in the arms of children.

Mills' age was unavailable. Plemons is 54.

According to a factual basis drafted by Morris and signed off on by Mills and defense attorney Lynn Tarpy, it was early February when Plemons complained to Mills about pesky coyotes and dogs chasing after Plemons' livestock in Monroe County.

Mills, who lived in Madisonville and worked at a local feed store, had a little experience with calamity-causing critters. His brother, Brian Mills, had sought his help as early as 1998 in dealing with migratory birds that were preying on Brian Mills' chickens, Morris wrote.

James Mark Mills was a "certified applicator" of the pesticide Carbofuran and tried it out on his brother's chicken problem, lacing "dead chicken carcasses" with it as bait for the birds, Morris wrote.

That's a big U.S. Environmental Protection Agency no-no, and James Mark Mills knew it, the federal prosecutor wrote.

He got away with it, though, so, when Plemons fretted over his cattle woes, Mills sold him some of the restricted pesticide and schooled him on setting up baited traps with it, court documents alleged.

Plemons apparently went a little batty with the baits, setting out trays of poisonous meat all over the place on and near his Monroe County property, according to state court records.

When family pets started turning up dead, Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency Officer Doug McKenzie decided to do a little snooping. Eventually, his probe drew in the EPA, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Tennessee Department of Agriculture.

Despite the number of animals killed in the poisonous pesticide case, both Mills and Plemons only drew misdemeanor convictions.

Under federal law, Mills' dispensing of the pesticide is not a felony. In Plemons' case, state law counted the slain pets as property each valued under the $500 threshold for a felony conviction.

Both men have not yet been sentenced.

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References

KnoxNews - Dec 12, 2006

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