Mayor, animal control officers arrested
Camden, TN (US)

Incident Date: Friday, Jan 11, 2008
County: Benton

Charges: Misdemeanor
Disposition: Alleged

Alleged:
» Jacqueline Boyett - Convicted
» Gilbert Jourdan, III - Convicted
» Jimmy Wiseman

Upcoming Court Dates:
» Friday, Jun 6, 2008: Wiseman's case

Case Updates: 3 update(s) available

Benton County Mayor Jimmy Wiseman and Benton County Animal Shelter employees Jacqueline Boyett and Gilbert Jourdan III were arrested on Jan 18 on animal cruelty charges and will be arraigned next week, said Camden Police Chief George Smith.

The charges were made a week after eight dogs were found dead at the county-run shelter. An additional 25 puppies and a cat had to be euthanized, according to a veterinarian who examined the animals.

Wiseman, 62, faces one count of cruelty to animals. Boyett, 21, and Jourdan, 23, faces four counts apiece. All three declined to speak to reporters. They are scheduled to be arraigned at 9 a.m. Wednesday.

The charges are Class A misdemeanors, authorities said. The charges were made based on evidence police found at the shelter on Jan. 11, Smith said during a press conference Friday afternoon before a standing-room-only crowd in the community room at the Camden Police Department.

The animal shelter has been closed since Jan. 11 because of the investigation.

"If you have seen the shelter ... there has been a crime committed," Smith said. "We charged Mr. Wiseman because he was overseer and supposedly the supervisor over the shelter."

"This is the worst case involving animals that we've had in the county," he said. "It was a terrible sight down there."

McCadams said the charge Wiseman faces would not prevent him from keeping his position as county mayor.

Wiseman's charges

An affidavit of complaint says Wiseman is accused of committing animal cruelty and neglect by failing to provide the necessary care for the animals at the shelter, which he had full custody and control over.

The affidavit states that Wiseman was aware of the problems over a period of time and employed people "not having or not being capable of doing the proper training of the job, by allowing animals to leave the shelter without being spayed, neutered and properly vaccinated under Wiseman's control, which is required by state law."

The affidavit also states that Wiseman failed to carry out a resolution passed by the County Commission last October that called for the shelter to be placed under the control of another agency and that he continued to supervise the shelter and brought about its current condition.

In an interview with The Jackson Sun on Thursday, Wiseman said the commission's vote to involve West Tennessee Animal Rescue in managing the shelter wasn't done according to Tennessee Code.

Commissioners have said they voted to have Shannon Dysktra, the president of the animal rescue group, appoint a board that would oversee the shelter's operation.

The commission does not have the authority to appoint committees, Wiseman said. It's the mayor's job to appoint committees, and the commission's job to approve them. He also said the decision was not on the agenda the night it was voted on, and no one had asked him about appointing a committee.

Wiseman said he didn't appoint a committee himself because he didn't see a need at the time.

"I thought everything was going smooth," he said. "I didn't realize we had a problem down there (at the animal shelter) because I have other businesses. I can't stay down there 24 hours a day. I've got to go to meetings. I've got a lot in my agenda now, trying to build a jail and a lot of stuff, trying to get new industry in here and going to meetings on that."

Wiseman said Thursday that he feels differently now.

"I want it turned over to the West Tennessee Animal Control," he said. "I don't want anything to do with it. I want them to take it over and run it, and pick who they want to run it and all that."

The affidavit also states that Wiseman went to the shelter on Jan. 11 and failed to provide food, water and care for the animals.

On Thursday, Wiseman said that he had fired Boyett the morning of Jan. 11 because of her tardiness in showing up for work. She had been the shelter's full-time employee, and the shelter also had two part-time employees, he has said.

Wiseman has said that he checked on the animals on the morning of Jan. 11 and "didn't see anything dead. ... They had plenty of feed and water, and the shelter was pretty clean at the time."

Wiseman declined comment Friday afternoon after being released on his own recognizance with $1,000 signature bond.

Employees' charges

Affidavits state Boyett and Jourdan failed to do the following for the animals at the shelter on Jan. 11, as observed by Camden Animal Clinic veterinarian Elizabeth Paschall, whom police called to examine the animals:

* Failed to provide necessary care for a small 6-week-old puppy that was found dead in the bottom of a pile in a food pan that had several small puppies in it.

* Failed to provide necessary care for a 9-week-old puppy that had scabies mange and died from the neglected skin condition.

* Failed to provide necessary care for a yellow labrador with four 10-day-old puppies, one of which was lying in the opening to the outside run and was badly decomposed and one of which was weak and lying on its back. It was unable to roll over, and it died the night of Jan. 11 while in foster care.

* Failed to provide necessary care for a black female labrador with five newborn puppies, which had been born within 12 to 24 hours of when Paschall examined them. Four of the puppies were dead, and the fifth died a few minutes after Paschall arrived.

Boyett and Jourdan, who both posted $5,000 bail, refused to comment as they left the Benton County Jail on Friday afternoon.

After police closed the shelter, Paschall decided 25 puppies had to be euthanized because they had been exposed to parvovirus, she wrote in a report of her findings.

West Tennessee Animal Rescue removed 30 animals from the shelter, and the group's volunteers cleaned the facility last weekend. Some of the animals have been placed in foster care, and some have been adopted, according to Shannon Dysktra, president and founder of the animal rescue group.

McCadams said he wanted to apologize to everyone who has heard about the case.

"This is not what Benton County represents," he said. "This is a beautiful community to raise a family, and we certainly invite anyone to move here."

In phone interviews Friday, several Benton County commissioners also weighed in on the arrests.

Commissioner Don Patton declined comment at this time.

"I don't know all the particulars yet," he said. "I would assume that the police department has investigated. I'm sure justice will prove itself, whatever way it may go."

Commissioner Vickie Howe said she thought it was a disgrace for the county. She feels Wiseman didn't do his job in making sure the shelter employees did theirs.

"We don't know how (Boyett) stood as far as the work part of the shelter at all," Howe said. "I just know that I'm very angry at Mayor Wiseman. He just sat there and ignored (the problem at the shelter). I just think he thought it would go away."

Commissioner Stephen Stokes called the arrests "the first step in the right direction."

He said the police evidently had "evidence that was pressing enough to be able to make the charges.

"They're kind of drawing a picture of what happened," Stokes said. "That's what this is doing, finding out who's responsible and to what extent."

Protesters at the county courthouse asked motorists and pedestrians to sign a petition for an immediate ouster of Wiseman from the office of county mayor.

Joe Kyle, of the group Citizens for Honest Government, said he calls Wiseman's office every day to see if he has resigned. He said justice has to be done for the animals.

"We can't let that kind of evil go on in our community," Kyle said. "It's a shame that animals in a shelter, where they are supposed to be cared for, have to be rescued."

Former commissioner Debbie Dye, who attended the news conference, called the charges too lenient.

"I was down there at the shelter Friday night," she said. "I saw a mother trying to nurse five or six dead puppies. There was a decomposing dog inside."

Dye said Friday that the County Commission needs to seek an ouster procedure to get Wiseman out of office and that two-thirds of the commission can do that.

"The commission needs to take immediate action and develop a backbone and do what they were elected to do," she said.

Jackson Sun reporter Tonya Smith-King contributed to this story.

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Case Updates

References

	Jackson Sun - Jan 18, 2008
	WKRN

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