A Marion County grand jury last week found “insufficient evidence” to charge the former director and workers at the county’s Humane Society with animal cruelty and abuse charges after a Jefferson resident uncovered deplorable living conditions for about 70 malnourished dogs on the property last fall, along with freezers full of dead dogs and one dead dog inside the director’s home.
Marion County District Attorney Angela Smoak said in a statement Thursday that on June 14, “a Marion County grand jury spent all day listening to the testimony of 13 witnesses, including those who faced potential criminal charges relating to the operation and eventual closure of the Dixie Humane Society (legally known as the Humane Society of Marion County).”
Smoak said after the review of the unidentified 13 witnesses’ testimony, “and additional evidence,” the grand jury found “insufficient evidence” to charge Caroline Wedding and her fellow workers at the nonprofit shelter with a single animal cruelty, neglect or abuse charge in relation to the mistreatment of more than 70 dogs and death of several others.
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