news-record.com

GREENSBORO – A grand jury has indicted the caretaker of a Pleasant Garden kennel where 97 dogs were seized earlier this year on animal cruelty charges.

Robert Lee Landreth was indicted Monday on six counts of felony animal cruelty and five misdemeanor counts of animal cruelty in connection with the raid of Rush Kennel in Pleasant Garden in early April.

Sheila Marie Savage, 53, the owner of the kennel, was indicted on similar charges in early June.

The grand jury also returned another indictment against her this week regarding obtaining property by false pretense.

The investigation came as a result of 14 complaints from customers who said puppies they bought suffered from a variety of illnesses and were infested with parasites.

Officers in the undercover investigation bought a toy poodle puppy in late March and found it was sick, authorities said.

The puppy died within two weeks, leading authorities to raid the kennel on April 7 and seize 97 dogs from what Sheriff BJ Barnes called “a puppy mill out of control.”

Ownership of the seized dogs was given to the Guilford County Animal Shelter in early May. The dogs have since been adopted or taken in by rescue groups.

Savage was charged with obtaining property by false pretense in June regarding selling a toy poodle to a buyer, representing it as being a “pure-bred” when in fact it was a mixed-breed, the indictment states.

Contact Ryan Seals at 373-7077 or ryan.seals@news-record.com