On May 18, 2023, a Superior Court Jury found ERIC TOLBERT (pictured), not guilty on all animal cruelty charges involving the PREVENTABLE and CRUEL deaths of his three dogs!
In January 2023, TOLBERT, a Rockdale County sheriff’s deputy, was indicted on three counts of felony aggravated cruelty to animals and two counts of misdemeanor cruelty to animals.
The three Voiceless Victims, LaLa, LukeCage, and Storm, were American Bulldogs, a breathing-impaired breed and TOLBERT should have known better!
These innocent souls lost their precious lives in June 2022. They died in a shed on TOLBERT’s property when temperatures reached a sweltering 95 degrees.
Four months later, a jury tells TOLBERT: “Well done! Don’t worry about it, they’re just dogs, their lives didn’t matter! Go on with your life!”
That’s not all! The Citizens reports: “Tolbert, who had been placed on administrative leave with pay, will return to full active duty, according to the Sheriff’s Office.”
Ms. Daphna Nachminovitch, Senior Vice President of the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), said: “There’s no excuse for leaving any dogs, let alone breathing-impaired ones such as LaLa, Luke Cage, and Storm, to wallow in their own waste while panting out their last agonizing breaths in a stifling shed in 95-degree heat. Hot weather is especially dangerous for American bullies and other flat-faced breeds, since their distorted airways make it difficult for them to breathe—and with summer approaching, PETA urges everyone to keep their dogs indoors, never chain or confine them outdoors or in sheds, and speak up if they know of any animals in danger of enduring the kind of horrific deaths that Tolbert’s dogs experienced.”
A lot of people out there have made it their mission to fight for animal rights.
On a daily basis, rescue organizations take in countless animal victims of abuse.
I feel that for every step we take forward, then something appalling and despicable like this verdict happens, that pushes us back to the starting point undoing all efforts made to demand harsh sentences.
Who the hell was in that jury!? How the hell will each and every one of you be able to sleep at night?
Had those dogs been children….
Rockdale County District Attorney Alisha Johnson announced that on Tuesday, January 10, 2023, Rockdale County Sheriff’s Office Deputy ERIC TOLBERT (pictured), has been indicted by a grand jury for three counts of felony aggravated cruelty to animals and two counts of misdemeanor cruelty to animals, reports PETA.
The charges stem from the PREVENTABLE, CRUEL, and SENSELESS deaths of his American Bulldogs (a breathing-impaired breed), named LaLa, LukeCage, and Storm. The furbabies died in June in a shed on TOLBERT’s property when temperatures reached a sweltering 95 degrees.
The charges also refer to his K-9, a black Labrador Retriever named Aegis, who was found “neglected and confined to a hot, filthy pen filled with mold-covered feces,” and another dog, a Pitbull, kept in squalid, feces-littered pens with dirty water buckets. Aegis was removed by county officials but the other dog was left with TOLBERT and his condition and whereabouts are currently unknown.
FOX Carolina reports that when Rockdale County Sheriff’s Investigator Colleen Jones executed a search warrant at TOLBERT’s residence, he was not there. Jones spoke to TOLBERT on the phone, explained that she was at his property to investigate and asked him where the dogs were. Reportedly, TOLBERT answered, “I didn’t have a way to bury them so I trashed them.” To that, Jones said: “You did what with them?” TOLBERT then answered: “Put them in the trash.”
Officials found “unsanitary conditions and the improper disposal of his personal dogs, which was in violation of Georgia law.”
Although Jones believed she had enough to charge TOLBERT with animal cruelty, County judge Nancy Bills, however, refused to sign a warrant for arrest because Jones’ relation to TOLBERT constitutes a “conflict of interest.”
Judge Bills believed the sheriff’s department should have turned the case over to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. Furthermore, in addition to the denial of a warrant for arrest, the district attorney refused to prosecute because of a “lack of evidence.”
At the time, the only discipline TOLBERT faced was a 32-hour suspension and the removal of his K9 handler status.
It’s disgraceful, that TOLBERT was initially spared from facing legal consequences and that thanks to PETA this filthy murderer will now get what’s coming to him!
After charges were finally filed against TOLBERT, PETA said in a news release: “Now, following three months of action by PETA, during which we sent letters, held demonstrations, and encouraged supporters to take action, Rockdale County District Attorney Alisha Johnson has finally charged Tolbert with cruelty to animals.”
LukeCage, LaLa, and Storm depended on TOLBERT “for protection, but he left them to suffer and die” rightfully said PETA.
TOLBERT cruelly, carelessly, and selfishly kept the VOICELESS VICTIMS “crated without adequate ventilation in a squalid outdoor shed, where the walls were stained with urine and moldy feces had piled up beneath the crates. After the first dog died, Tolbert couldn’t even be bothered to keep the other two safe indoors. Instead, he left them in the shed while he went to work the next day, and they died, too.”
In a statement, PETA Senior Vice President Daphna Nachminovitch said: “Nothing can bring these dogs back or make up for their suffering, but these charges send the message that there are consequences for anyone who causes dogs’ agonizing deaths, including those charged with enforcing the law. PETA is calling for Deputy Eric Tolbert to be barred from owning animals for life so that no other dog dies slowly and painfully in his stifling shed as LaLa, LukeCage, and Storm did.”
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Details may be removed or additional information may be provided in future should such sources report an update.
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