Lee County man charged with animal abuse

**beamer_ball** · July 22nd, 2005, 10:16 PM

Sorry about the caps, this is from the WCYB website....there was an email going around a while back about this along with pictures that were pretty bad....

http://wcyb.tv/newsread.asp?newsid=6007

IT`S A SEVERE CASE OF ANIMAL ABUSE...A MAN IN LEE COUNTY IS CHARGED WITH ANIMAL CRUELTY...LUCKILY THE DOG WAS RESCUED BEFORE HE DIED....
IT`S A SICKENING CASE OF ANIMAL CRUELTY....
A BULL MASTIFF WAS FOUND STARVED, DEHYDRATED AND COVERED WITH SORES, AND AT 70 POUNDS AUTHORITIES SAY SHE WAS CLOSE TO DEATH.
THAT`S UNTIL DEBORAH JERRELL DECIDED TO TAKE HER HOME AND RESCUE THE DOG SHE NOW CALLS CHANCE.
DEBORAH JERRELL/ RESCUED CHANCE:
(DEBBIE3) "i just brought her up here, put her in the pen and took care of her."
BUT AFTER 5 WEEKS OF NURSING HER BACK TO HEALTH, CHANCE`S ORIGINAL FAMILY CAME TO TAKE HER BACK....AND AT THE TIME THE AUTHORITIES SAID THEIR WASN`T MUCH THEY COULD DO.
(DEBBIE5) "I was just lost, just lost, worried something may happen to her."
5 DAYS LATER AND WITH SUFFICIENT EVIDENCE, THE COUNTY`S ANIMAL CONTROL OFFICER TOOK CHANCE AWAY FROM HER OWNER ONCE AGAIN AND INTO THE COUNTY`S CUSTODY....THEY CHARGED HER OWNER DAVID SEXTON WITH ANIMAL CRUELTY.
RANDY BACH/ LEE COUNTY ANIMAL CONTROL OFFICER:
"she did a great job with the dog and others in the county should do the same thing when they see animals with this problem."
according to VA state law, this type of crime is a class 1 misdemeanor punishable with up to 12 months in prison and a 25-hundred dollar fine...to be a felony it must be a second offense or the animal must be killed.
SHAWN HINES/ LEE COUNTY COMMONWEALTH`S ATTORNEY:
"it`s in bad shape, the dog is in and it`s going to be hard to explain how a dog got in that condition."
NOW CHANCE IS BEING HELD IN THE POUND UNTIL THE COURT DECIDES WHERE SHE WILL GO
AS FOR JERRELL SHE HOPES THESE GRAPHIC IMAGES ARE A LESSON TO OTHERS....
(DEBBIE6) "having a little puppy is so cute, but they get big, don`t just put them out back and tie them to a fence, take care of them."