Three arrested in abandonment of puppies

FAIRFIELD COUNTY – Three  people have been arrested for the death of two puppies who were left with another surviving puppy in a locked crate with no food and water.

Jeremy Allen Cook, 35, and Anne Marie Whitaker, 32, both of Winnsboro, and Jessica Ann Broom, 19. of Ridgeway have been charged with Ill Treatment of Animals and Abandonment of Animals under S. C. law.

On Sunday, March 9, at ap­proximately 1 p.m., the Fairfield County Sheriff’s Office received a report of a suspected animal dumping incident in the vicinity of Horse Creek Road. Deputies responded and determined the incident occurred on Old Camden Road near Highway 21.

When they arrived, deputies made contact with two people who reported discovering three dogs abandoned in a crate on a remote section of Old Camden Road, according to the incident report.

Further investigation revealed that one dog was already de­ceased, while the remaining two dogs were confined in the crate without food or water. Both were reported to be exhibiting signs of severe malnourishment, accord­ing to deputies.

The surviving dogs were trans­ported to a local veterinary hos­pital for treatment; however, one of the two later succumbed to starvation.

The initial re­port stemmed from a video cir­culating on social media, which de­picted the dogs’ abandonment and prompted the complainants to go to the scene and call 911.

Sheriff’s depu­ties investigating the incident de­termined that the dogs had been in­tentionally aban­doned on Satur­day, March 8, by individuals who admitted to placing the animals in the crate and leaving them on Old Camden Road with no means of survival.

Initial state­ments from two of the suspects claimed the dogs had been rehomed due to their inabil­ity to care for the dogs. Further questioning, however, revealed these statements to be false, ac­cording to the Sheriff’s deputies. The suspects ultimately confessed to collaborating with a third party to dispose of the animals.

Cook, Whitaker, and Broom have been arrested, and the case remains under investigation.