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SHANNON -- An N.C. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services regulator tipped off employees of a Butterball turkey facility that law officers were planning to raid the facility as part of an investigation into animal cruelty, according to a search warrant made public Wednesday.

The document alleges Dr. Sarah Jean Mason, the director of animal health programs in the Agriculture Department's Poultry Division, told Dr. Eric Gonder, a Goldsboro veterinarian working for Butterball, about the impending raid after learning about it from the Hoke County Sheriff's Office.

The warrant, filed in Hoke County Court by Deputy Donald Schwab Jr., says deputies called officials with the Agriculture Department on Dec. 23 "only hours before the leak" to clarify the proper procedures for executing the warrant and to get information they would need.

"During these conversations, it was clearly indicated that this information regarding the investigation and upcoming search warrant was sensitive, should be treated as confidential and should not be disclosed," Schwab wrote.

But about 6 p.m. the same day, Wayne Willis, a manager at the tom turkey milking facility, called the Hoke County District Attorney's Office saying he heard the facility was under investigation and wanted to know if it was true, the warrant says.

Investigators searched the facility as planned Dec. 28, despite the leak, the warrant says. Gonder later identified Mason as the source of the leak, the document says.

Mason initially told investigators she didn't know about the leak and she only learned about the search the day it was executed, according to the warrant, which was filed seeking her telephone records. After being confronted with the news that Gonder revealed she tipped him off, Mason admitted to doing so, Schwab wrote.

Mason said she got the information from another, unnamed Agriculture Department employee, Schwab wrote.

Mason could not be reached for comment Wednesday evening, although messages were left on her work and personal cellphones. Attempts to reach a spokesman for the Agriculture Department also were unsuccessful Wednesday evening.

Deputies began investigating the farm at 4213 N. Shannon Road after members of Mercy For Animals, a Chicago-based animal-welfare group, sent an undercover employee to the facility for three weeks during which she secretly recorded footage of workers beating, kicking and throwing the filthy and sickly turkeys.

Deputies said some of the turkeys inspected during their search had to be euthanized.

Mercy For Animals alleges animal cruelty is widespread at Butterball, a claim the Garner-based company has denied.

No charges have been filed in the case.