Puppy Mill Couple Arrested With Seven Counts Of Animal Cruelty Each
Photos courtesy of Dade County Sheriff’s Office – Nathaniel Levon Curington (left) and Aimee Renee Curington (right) were arrested on July 9 with seven counts each of animal cruelty.
By LYDIA BERGLAR
News Editor
On July 9, eight days after the Sells Lane puppy mill/hoarding bust, the Dade County Sheriff’s Office and Trenton Police Department served two arrest warrants (from the Georgia Department of Agriculture) to the responsible couple: Nathaniel Levon Curington (age 44) and Aimee Renee Curington (age 45) were arrested for seven counts each of Felony Cruelty to Animals.
The Curingtons were housed at the Dade County Jail after being arrested and booked without incident until they went before a judge and posted bond ($10,000 each).
The warrants cite Official Code of Georgia (O.C.G.A.) 16-12-4, a portion of which reads: “A person commits the offense of cruelty to animals when he or she: (1) Causes physical pain, suffering, or death to an animal by any unjustifiable act or omission; or (2) Having intentionally exercised custody, control, possession, or ownership of an animal, fails to provide to such animal adequate food, water, sanitary conditions, or ventilation that is consistent with what a reasonable person of ordinary knowledge would believe is the normal requirement and feeding habit for such animal’s size, species, breed, age, and physical condition.”
The Department of Agriculture is investigating the animal abuse case. The Sentinel contacted the department for more information about how the number of animal cruelty charges is decided. Why not more (like one for each animal) or less (like combining the entire case into one charge)?
Communications Director Matthew Agvent explained that the department could not comment on this particular case because it’s an active criminal investigation, but in general, the department uses documentation from veterinary reports once animals have been evaluated. (This explains the delay between the July 1 animal seizure and July 9 arrest.)
The department then charges for the worst offenses, but the district attorneys can add charges (such as neglect and misdemeanor charges) through the grand jury process.
Reports indicate that a child (or multiple) were living at the residence, but any charges related to neglect of children have not yet been made public.
The Sentinel also contacted two City of Trenton officials, Terry Powell (parks/animal control commissioner) and Ronnie Page (animal control officer), to ask why the situation wasn’t (or couldn’t be) addressed by the city earlier. Neither has responded as of press time.
Per the city’s ordinances, Trenton has rabies vaccination requirements and rabies and identification tagging requirements, but at this time, no other animal ordinances seem relevant to the case.
It also appears that several ordinances pertaining to maintaining premises could have given the city reason to address the case earlier (see Chapter 34, Article 1). For example, neighbors complained about the stench from feces in the backyard.
However, Ansel Smith (building inspector) reported that every time a complaint came across his desk, he investigated and sent a letter to the Curingtons who then addressed each situation. For example, after receiving a letter about the disorderly lawn, they began mowing. As for the stench from feces in the backyard, Smith reported that while the issue wasn’t resolved yet, it seemed to be improving, and the couple seemed to be addressing it.
