Two jail officers in Arkansas ended up in a jail in a different county on animal cruelty charges after authorities received a tip that a retired K9 officer was being neglected and abused. In a news release Thursday, Greene County Sheriff Brad Snyder said the tip "indicated that retired K9 Bane was being left outside on a chain with no access to food, water, or shade" and was "very much underweight." In court documents, Sergeant Ashten Jackson said that when detectives visited the home of county detention officer Ethan Huffstetler on Tuesday, they found the dog "deceased in a plastic dog house inside the outdoor kennel," KAIT reports.
"K9 Bane appears to have been deceased for a substantial amount of time," Jackson said. Huffstetler told detectives that he hadn't checked on the dog in four or five days and he didn't have food for him, the sheriff said. Huffstetler's roommate, fellow jail officer Payton Johnson, told detectives that he let his own dog out in the backyard two or three times a day but hadn't seen Bane in a week. "Due to the state of decomposition of K9 Bane and the close proximity to the residence, it is not feasible that Johnson was unaware of K9 Bane's condition," Jackson said.
Huffstetler and Johnson, both 20 years old, were fired and charged with one count of aggravated cruelty to a dog, cat, or equine, which is a Class D felony. The sheriff said Bane began his career with the sheriff's office six years ago and was retired in January last year at the age of seven, the Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette reports. Bane was adopted by his handler, Jimmy Huffstetler, but "at some point after retirement, retired K9 Bane came under the care of Jimmy's son Ethan," Snyder said. "Retired K9 Bane served Greene County very well during his time with this department," the sheriff said. (More animal cruelty stories.)
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