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HOKE COUNTRY, NC (NEWS CENTER) - Mercy For Animals is reacting to news of arrests Wednesday that resulted from its undercover investigation of animal abuse at a Hoke County, North Carolina turkey farm.&
The organization selected Butterball's Farm 11 randomly and one of its investigators went undercover for four weeks starting in November.&
At 3 p.m. on Wednesday, three employees were brought into the Hoke County Jail.&
They were charged in connection to the case.&
Sheriff's deputies are searching for three more.&
The three arrested include Ruben Mendoza, of an unknown address, charged with Felonious obtaining of Property by False Pretenses, Felonious Identity Theft, and Misdemeanor Cruelty to Animals.&
Jose Garcia from Shannon faces Felony charges for Identity Theft and Obtaining Property by False Pretenses.&
Terry Johnson from Red Springs is charged with Misdemeanor Cruelty to Animals.&
"The way they treated the animals, you see the charges are cruelty to animals, so that's basically the nature of the charge, they were doing things that they shouldn't have been doing," said Hoke County Sheriff Hubert Peterkin.&
So far the investigation implicates workers, and not managers, at the Butterball Farm in Shannon and Tar Heel Hatchery in Raeford.
The sheriff says these arrests are just the beginning.&
"It's probably going to be more, from what we're looking at," said Sheriff Peterkin.&
Butterball issued a statement saying four employees have been fired and two others suspended.&
"As the result of Butterball's own internal investigation into this matter, Butterball terminated four employees last month due to their failure to comply with the company's animal care and well-being standards. Butterball understands that three of these former associates have been charged with animal cruelty today. In addition, Butterball understands that two current Butterball associates have been charged with animal cruelty. Butterball has immediately suspended these two current associates pending final disciplinary action."&
The arrests come after a high-level state agriculture department employee was charged and suspended in connection with the incident.&
Dr. Sarah Mason was notified of a two week unpaid suspension on February 2.&
That was the result of the Department of Agriculture's own investigation into the case.&
Mason pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice after she admitted to tipping off a veterinarian at the facility that undercover video had been recorded.&
She appeared before Judge John Horne, Jr. on Wednesday and was sentenced to 45 days in the Hoke County Jail.&
Her jail sentence was suspended in exchange for 12 months unsupervised probation.&
Mason will also be required to attend two ethics training courses and attend monthly meetings with her supervisor to review industry contacts for one year.&
Authorities say she initially lied about the leak.&
WNCN was unable to reach Mason for comment Wednesday, but last month she said in a statement, "Nobody at the department was aware of the actions I took."&
The investigation revealed that Mason acted alone and without the knowledge and consent of her superiors at the Department of Agriculture.&
In her statement, Mason said, "My rationale for contacting Dr. Eric Gonder was to immediately curtail avian abuse."&
In a January 19 interview Commissioner Steve Troxler said he is standing by Dr. Mason.&
"I had an employee who made an error," Troxler said in the interview.&
In a statement from the Dept. of Agriculture officials said Mason's action was out of character for her and has a reputation for honesty and integrity.&
Officials add that the information Mason shared with the Butterball employee was "received fourth-hand through Department employees."&
Mercy For Animals, the group that initially recorded the alleged abuse at the Hoke County Butterball farm, provided the following statement which in part read: "We hope that all parties responsible for the horrific animal abuse and neglect document at Butterball, as well as those who sought to interfere with law enforcement's investigation by obstructing justice, be held criminally accountable."&
Nathan said Mason's punishment is not enough.&
"This suspension is a mere slap on the wrist. Employees that foster animal abuse and allow it to continue and who defend these companies should be fired, quite frankly," he said.&
Brian Long, spokesman for the Department of Agriculture, explained Wednesday why the agriculture commissioner is keeping Mason on board.&
"Given her overall record with the department over the past five and a half years or so, and given the fact that she realizes what she did was just a very bad error in judgment, it is out of character with the way she has conducted herself as an employee with the department, I think that he feels like the punishment was appropriate," he said.&
Runkle said he is pleased with the charges authorities have made in the case.&
"We hope that these arrests send a strong message that animal abuse will not be tolerated and that factory farmers simply cannot kick and throw and neglect animals however they wish, and that state anti-cruelty laws and undercover investigations will hold you criminally accountable for mistreating these animals," he said.&
Runkle plans a news conference in Raleigh Thursday morning to talk more about the case.&
In addition to the firings and suspensions, Butterball announced further reaction to the abuse case.&
The company released this statement:&
"We are closely re-evaluating our animal care and well-being policies and practices and have already established several new initiatives - including reviewing scientific literature and enhancing the company program, re-training associates on animal care and well-being, elevating animal care and well-being to a position that reports directly to me, and conducting extensive third-party audits by national experts - that reinforce this commitment."
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