Shelter employees charged with animal cruelty - Memphis, TN

Tuesday, Oct 27, 2009

County: Shelby

Charges: Felony CTA
Disposition: Convicted

Defendants/Suspects:
» Billy D. Stewart
» Frank Lightfoot, Jr.
» Archie Elliot, III

Case Updates: 1 update(s) available

Three Memphis Animal Shelter employees were indicted today on multiple charges of animal cruelty following a police undercover operation.

The employees charged are Billy D. Stewart, 28, Frank Lightfoot, Jr., 59, and Archie Elliot, III, 35. Each is charged with multiple counts of aggravate animal cruelty. They were arrested this morning following their indictments.

Memphis Mayor A C Wharton, Police director Toney Armstrong and District Attorney General Amy Weirich announced the charges at a morning press conference.

Last year, Wharton said he would turn over the findings of a 22-page report delivered to him from the Rotary Club's Memphis Animal Shelter Evaluation Committee to law enforcement agencies, including the DA's office.

The Rotary report said that shelter employees told Rotary members they believed that other employees had ties to dog-fighting rings and that "there remains the clear understanding, on the part of all the employees, that certain individuals are exempt from the rules."

The Shelby County Sheriff's Office raided the old shelter at 3456 Tchulahoma on Oct. 27, 2009. Officers found abused or neglected animals, a problem illustrated at the time by a widely circulated image of an emaciated dog. That dog and two others eventually starved to death.

Ultimately, former shelter director Ernest Alexander, veterinarian Angela Middleton and administrative supervisor Tina Quattlebaum were indicted on charges of aggravated cruelty to animals. In 2011, former Memphis Animal Services officer Demetria Hogan was charged by Memphis police with three counts of animal cruelty.

Built in 1972, the old shelter east of Memphis International Airport closed last year and was replaced with a 35,000-square-foot facility at 2350 Appling City Cove in Northeast Memphis.

The city issued requests for proposals from private organizations to run the shelter, but got no responses. Last month, Wharton named James Rogers as interim administrator for the shelter.

Less than two weeks into his tenure, Rogers encountered his first controversy. A blog that has kept a close watch on the shelter in recent years, Yes Biscuit, posted several videos showing employees using "catchpoles," long poles with a nooselike rope at the end to control animals, to move dogs at the shelter, and other rough treatment of animals at the facility.

Case Updates

A former Memphis Animal Shelter employee accused of choking dogs to control them as they were about to be euthanized was convicted Friday on four counts of aggravated cruelty to animals. Billy Stewart, 29, was one of three shelter workers indicted last year following a several-month undercover investigation by police prompted by allegations of animal cruelty, animal fighting and unaccounted-for animals. A Criminal Court jury of seven men and five women deliberated about four hours before returning the guilty verdicts and rejecting Stewart's defense that included blaming the shelter for providing little or no training. "I think Billy Stewart needs to be held responsible for his own actions," state prosecutor Katie Ratton said after the verdicts. "Abusing animals is not proper procedure." The four felony counts each carry up to two years in prison, though Stewart is eligible to ask for diversion or probation when he is sentenced next month by Judge Paula Skahan. He also was convicted of one count of misdemeanor cruelty that carries up to 11 months and 29 days in jail. Stewart, who showed no reaction to the verdicts, remains free on bond. Two other shelter employees Frank Lightfoot Jr. and Archie Elliott pleaded guilty last year to cruelty charges stemming from the same investigation and were given short prison sentences. In trial this week, the undercover officer, Daniel Arrington, testified that when Stewart led dogs into a room to be euthanized he sometimes choked them into unconsciousness by tightening the noose at the end of a catch pole. Arrington said Stewart choked at least five dogs in that manner between December of 2011 and February of 2012. Lightfoot, a former euthanasia technician, told jurors he witnessed four of the incidents. He was not a witness to an incident on Dec. 17, 2011, the one count in which jurors returned the lesser-included misdemeanor offense of cruelty to animals. Witnesses said more humane control techniques available included the use of a squeeze gate on the wall in which the dog can be immobilized while a technician administers a sedative. Stewart, who had been disciplined by the shelter for previous violations, denied the allegations of cruelty and told jurors that the more aggressive dogs sometimes choked themselves by twisting and turning in efforts to get free of the noose. He said he was given little or no training and his attorney, Paul Springer, argued that politicians and other officials should be held accountable for problems at the shelter. In 2009, the Sheriff's Office conducted a highly publicized raid at the old Memphis Animal Shelter on Tchulahoma after complaints of mistreatment and neglect of animals. The director, administrative supervisor and the shelter's veterinarian all were indicted, though none were convicted. After veterinarian Dr. Angela Middleton was acquitted in trial in what was believed to be the state's strongest case, prosecutors dropped the charges against former director Ernest Alexander and supervisor Tina Quattlebam. A new $7.2 million animal shelter was opened on Appling City Cove in November of 2011, though continuing complaints about animal abuse prompted the undercover investigation that snared Stewart and two others.

Source: Commercial Appeal - June 7 , 2013 Update posted on Jun 7, 2013 - 8:53PM

References

« TN State Animal Cruelty Map
« More cases in Shelby County, TN

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