The co-owner of a former Knoxville-based crematory has pleaded guilty in Scott County Circuit Court to disposing of 137 animal carcasses on a dead-end road in the Midway community last summer. Scott County Commonwealth's Attorney Marcus McClung said that Michael Badgett, 37, of Coeburn, had entered the pleas and will certainly serve some time in jail for bringing 136 dead dogs and one cat into Virginia from Knox County on March 30, 2005, and scattering their remains along a creek bank on State Route 965.
Badgett was indicted by a grand jury in July 2005 on 137 counts of dumping a companion animal on private property, a Class U misdemeanor. McClung said while Badgett has pleaded guilty to all the counts, and court fees could amount to well into five figures, he has made it known to Judge John Kilgore that he wants Badgett to be financially responsible for the environmental hazard he created. "There is no felony count in our (state) law book that matches up with what actually happened (in this case), and in order to combat that, we charged him with 137 misdemeanors,'' McClung said. Badgett faced 12 months in jail on each of the misdemeanor charges. "As you know, those charges would cause a lot of administration costs and fees and court costs, so what we're concerned about was restitution being paid, and we want the appropriate punishment for this. We tried to fashion a remedy to fit the law. He pleaded guilty to all 137 counts, but we asked the court to take 132 under advisement. We chose 132 because that is the exact same amount (of years in prison) you would get if you dumped a human body,'' McClung said.
Badgett will be sentenced on five misdemeanor counts on April 24, which could place him behind bars for five years, and McClung says he plans to ask for Badgett to pay just over $10,000 in restitution. "If he has over $50,000 in court costs, that $10,000 may be lost, so we want to make sure that money is paid back to the people of Scott County," said McClung. "We think that our office looking at the same amount of time a person would get if they dumped a human body in this particular case shows we are considering a severe punishment. That is why if he does not pay his restitution, the 132 cases taken under advisement will be brought back up. All that is left is for the judge to sentence him. Let's hope that he pays what he owes.''
An environmental cleanup crew from Rocky Mount, Va., was contracted by the Scott County Department of Public Works to transfer the carcasses from the banks of Obey's Creek, a tributary of the Clinch River, into huge toxic waste containers and transport them to an incinerator in Roanoke for final disposal. According to information from Scott County Sheriff's Department Investigator Chris Holder, medical I.D. tags attached to some of the dog carcasses listed veterinary clinics that had entered into agreements with RossAnn Services of Knoxville to cremate the animals. McClung said gloves recovered at the site were tested for DNA evidence and positively placed Badgett at the scene the night of the dumping. "(Badgett) also had ties to this region. His fiancee lives in this area, and when we contacted her and asked to speak with her, we found out that we had to pass the dump site to get to her residence," McClung said.
"We also learned from the clinics that he was, in fact, the individual who picked up the animals for cremation. We always felt like we had the right person in this case, but we had a tough time developing this case and punishment to adopt to Virginia laws."
Some of those clinics cooperated with Knox County law enforcement to place 15 counts of theft of services against Badgett, 12 of which were dropped after evidence revealed that the veterinary clinics had reimbursed pet owners the cost of having their dogs cremated. RossAnn was also contracted to dispose of dead research animals from the University of Tennessee and old evidence, uniforms and other discarded materials from the Knoxville Police Department and the Knoxville office of the FBI. The crematory has since been shut down by order of the Knox County Health Department. McClung has been in touch with Delegate Terry Kilgore, R-Gate City, to see if some legislation can be crafted to deliver guidelines for punishment for this specific crime. "We have to have a law that can fit this much better," said McClung.
McClung added that any information collected in the Scott County investigation will be made available to Knox County officials if they plan to pursue further charges against Badgett and RossAnn co-founder Mikel Lateef Bradley. Bradley has reportedly moved to Florida since paying fines connected to health violations placed against his business.
Case UpdatesAn employee of a now closed Knoxville animal crematory will spend one year in jail for dumping 137 animal carcasses on the side of a Scott County, Virginia road in March, 2005. Michael Badgett also received three years probation. He must pay more than $10,000 in restitution.
Badgett worked for Ross Ann Services, a now closed animal crematory that was the focus of several investigations. A former owner, Mikel Bradley, currently has an arrest warrant out for him in Knox County after Bradley failed to appear in court of theft of services charges. Several local veterinarians say they took animal remains to Ross Ann Services for cremation, but never received anything back. "They're my family members. They're my kids," Dr. Kris Novinger of the Oak Ridge Veterinary Hospital said. "There was a chance that we had a lot of client pets on the side of a road in Virginia," Dr. Raina Jones added.
The animal hospital was one of many that worked with Ross Ann Services. To this day, both receive questions about the disposal of animals because of publicity surrounding the Badgett and Bradley cases. Both Dr. Novinger and Dr. Jones even had personal pets cremated at Ross Ann, now wondering if the remains they have are of the animals they loved. "Wow. That's it," Dr. Jones said of the Badgett sentencing. "I'm amazed. It's not right."
Dr. Novinger said when she first heard of the allegations, she hoped lawmakers would step up to close loopholes surrounding animal crematories, hoping any similar action would have stiffer consequences. Right now, there is no proposed legislation in Tennessee or Virginia about animal crematories. "They (pets) are considered property by law, but that's not how I feel about them," Dr. Novinger said. Both say those legislative efforts will soon be resumed, hoping their pain will create action to prevent further suffering down the road. "You've got to value life," Dr. Novinger said. "Whether it's a dog, cat, or person." | Source: WBIR News - April 25, 2006
Update posted on May 11, 2006 - 10:08PM |
References« VA State Animal Cruelty Map
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