Martin County man charged with cruelty to animals
INEZ, Ky. — A Martin County man was arrested after police found three dead dogs tied up behind his home.
Phillip Butcher, 73, of Inez, is charged with three counts of second-degree cruelty to animals.
According to the police report, deputes were called to check on the dogs and found them dead. Butcher told officers the dogs belonged to his ex-girlfriend and she had left them there. He told officers he tried to get her to get them, but he never reported them to authorities, and he eventually “stopped fooling with them and stopped feeding them awhile ago.”
The police report says he first told deputies he was told they were dead four or five days ago, but later said he learned they were dead two weeks earlier.
Second-degree cruelty to animals is a misdemeanor in Kentucky, punishable by up to one year in jail.
