A formal criminal charge has been filed against an Elmore City area man accusing him of abusing six dogs kept at his rural residence by failing to properly care for the animals.
A warrant for the arrest of Jerry Edwards Jr., 22, was rescinded Friday as arrangements were made for his first court appearance to come later on a single felony count of cruelty to animals.
The charge came on Tuesday — about three weeks after Garvin County deputies got the word out they were seeking Edwards to question him about the animal abuse accusation.
One day later a Purcell attorney entered his appearance as Edwards’ counsel and a cash bond for the defendant’s release was posted.
Edwards is now scheduled to appear Aug. 24 for his initial court arraignment on the animal related case, while the same date will be used for the next hearing in multiple drug and firearm possession charges filed against him this past spring.
This week’s new charge centers on the six malnourished pit bull dogs found July 4 chained on his property.
Officers found each of the dogs, chained to various stationary objects in a yard, were “extremely” underweight and living in poor conditions.
Scars on the animals from past wounds and other reported evidence led authorities to believe Edwards had possibly forced the dogs to fight each other.
An area veterinarian was soon called to the scene to provide medical treatment to all of the dogs. Two were later euthanized due to their poor health condition and aggressive nature toward each other, reports showed.
Edwards also faces a handful other charges after he took an Elmore City officer on a brief pursuit during an attempted traffic stop in April.
A filed affidavit shows the officer was attempting to stop two other speeding vehicles when another one turned directly in front of him.
That vehicle driven by Edwards continued outside of Elmore City’s city limits for about a mile before stopping.
Edwards was quickly cited for not yielding to an emergency vehicle, driving left of center and having no insurance on the vehicle.
An inventory of the vehicle conducted before it was to be towed revealed an unloaded .45 caliber pistol was inside, in addition to some marijuana seeds, paraphernalia and small clear crystals that field tested positive for methamphetamine.
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