Coopertown Police said two men and a woman were in jail on animal cruelty charges. According to police, a witness saw the three people throw 22 dogs out of a vehicle.
The witness noted the car's license plate number and called police.
William Milliken, Donald Ray Hackett and Kimberly Beard have each charged with 22 counts of animal cruelty.
Police said all three admitted to getting rid of the dogs on the afternoon of May 15.
They told police the dogs had fleas and ticks and they didn't want the animals around their children.
Coopertown Mayor Danny Crosby, along with Police and neighbors recovered 15 puppies and two mothers.
One puppy died, but the rest were doing well.
Police were still working to find out what happened to the other five dogs.
"Some puppies have not been found. We're not sure if something else has gotten them. At six weeks, they're on their own. They don't have much defense to them yet," Jonathan Coulon of the Cooperstown Police Department said.
All of the puppies that were found have been adopted.
The mayor adopted the two moms and three dogs, and some police officers and neighbors have also adopted puppies. Case UpdatesThree suspects arrested in Coopertown for attempting to throw 20 puppies and two mother dogs from a moving vehicle recently faced a Robertson County judge.
Donald Hackett, 34, Kimberly Beard, 38, and William Milliken, 54, all of Joelton were all charged with 22 counts of animal cruelty in the case. All three suspects were in court Dec. 12, according to the Robertson County Circuit Court Clerk�s office.
Hackett and Beard were each found guilty of one count of animal cruelty. The other 21 counts were dismissed in court, officials said. Both received a sentence of 11 months and 29 days probation and 200 hours of public service in Coopertown and were also ordered to pay court costs and contribute $1,100 each to Robertson County Animal Control.
Milliken, like Hackett and Beard, was found guilty of one count of animal cruelty. The other counts were dismissed in court. Milliken received a sentence of 11 months and 29 days probation and 100 hours of public service in Coopertown. He was also ordered to pay court costs and contribute $2,200 to Robertson County Animal Control.
�If the suspects would have been convicted on all 22 counts of animal cruelty, there would have been court costs to pay on each individual count,� said Assistant District Attorney Joel Perry, who handled the case in court. �Our biggest concern was getting restitution paid to the animal control shelter, so instead of getting a conviction on all 22 counts and the money going to court costs, we decided to have (the suspects) plead guilty to one count each and have the money go to something that helped animals.�
Perry said the restitution amounts for the suspects were determined as follows: Hackett and Beard each paid restitution of $1,100 to animal control, which amounts to $50 per dog in the case. Plus, both suspects were given 200 public service hours to be served in Coopertown. Milliken, on the other hand, paid $2,200 in restitution, which amounts to $100 per dog in the case. As a result of the higher fines, he only had to serve 100 public service hours in Coopertown.
According to the police report, Hackett, Beard and Milliken were arrested after community members reported they were throwing several dogs from a moving vehicle on McMahan Hollow Road. | Source: Robertson County Times - January 11, 2006
Update posted on Jan 15, 2006 - 7:33AM |
One puppy died as a result of injuries sustained during the incident. The remaining 19 puppies were adopted soon after their rescue. Hackett, Beard and Milliken were expected to be in court late last month to face the charges. However, according to the Assistant District Attorney�s office, the trial has been pushed back to December.
Joel Perry said the reason for the rescheduling was due to one of the attorneys on the case being out of town. A specified date has not been set at this time, but officials say it will likely be mid-month. | Source: Robertson County Times - Nov 2, 2005
Update posted on Nov 2, 2005 - 8:24PM |
Three people have now been charged with 66 counts of animal cruelty in Coopertown. This comes after someone threw puppy after puppy out of a vehicle onto a country road.
Coopertown Mayor Danny Crosby is outraged by what someone did with two litters of puppies.
"This is just bad, and as mayor of this city I am not going to tolerate anyone mistreating a little animal like this or a grown animal," said Crosby.
Crosby got a call Sunday from a neighbor who saw three people throwing puppies and two mama dogs out of a truck.
"Several of them covered in fleas and ticks," said Crosby. "Some of them had blisters. The mother dogs have blisters."
When Crosby arrived on the scene, he found puppies all over the road and in the woods. He found people as well, trying to rescue them. They located 15 puppies. He's since learned there were 20 puppies in all.
"We've researched and combed the area down the slope to the creek, all the way up to the bridge of both sides of the road," he said.
Police traced a license tag number to a house in Cheatham County, and talked with a woman there.
"Asked her why," said Coopertown Police Officer Jonathon Coulon. "She said the dogs were covered in fleas and ticks. They didn't want the dogs around their children. Why they didn't take them to the vet, I don't know."
Now police have charged three people - the woman's uncle, William Milliken, Donald Hackett and Kimberly Beard, with 22 counts each of animal cruelty. All the puppies located have homes now, along with the mama dogs. But Mayor Crosby still wonders about the other five.
"Hopefully someone stopped and picked them up, hopefully," he said.
Crosby wants anyone who stopped to pick up the puppies to contact him so he can account for each one. He says one of the puppies rescued has since died. | Source: WKRN - May 22, 2005
Update posted on May 25, 2005 - 8:25AM |
References« TN State Animal Cruelty Map
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