A former Georgia K-9 police officer, who was portrayed as an avid dog lover after adopting his animal partners once they retired, is accused of animal cruelty in the deaths of three dogs, officials said Tuesday.
(FOX)- According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the Cherokee County Marshal’s Office recovered the remains of a dog at the home of former Cherokee County school police officer Daniel Peabody. It’s now the third dog Peabody is accused of killing.
Peabody, a 16-year police veteran, was charged last month in the deaths of two other police dogs, including a 4-year-old Belgian Malinois named Inca that died from a heatstroke after being left in a patrol car and the 2012 shooting death of a yellow Labrador named Dale.
“Peabody initially claimed Dale’s death was accidental due to Dale choking on a toy,” the marshal’s office said last month in a statement. “However, the investigation yielded evidence that Dale was in fact shot and killed.”
The paper reported that an investigation into the death of Inca led to apparent evidence that Peabody had in fact killed the second dog in 2012. However, the evidence recovered Tuesday wasn’t of Dale’s, but of a third dog.
Investigators found the third dog’s remains at Peabody’s former home in Paulding. The forensic veterinarian’s findings were released Tuesday, the Journal-Constitution reported.
According to The Washington Post, the Peabody case is one of the more bizarre animal cruelty cases because of the circumstances and the expense surrounding K-9 units. It’s a felony to intentionally kill a K-9 and a perpetrator could face up to five years.