SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) — A Greene County judge has dismissed three felony animal abuse charges against a Pleasant Hope couple in an alleged puppy mill case.
Associate Circuit Court Judge Dan Imhof on Thursday dismissed the charges against 48-year-old Carold H. Cruse and 49-year-old Rebecca Cruse. They had been charged after officials found 93 Yorkshire terriers at their kennel in February.
The Springfield News-Leader reports that Imhof ruled that the conditions at the mill did not meet the law’s criteria of purposefully causing torture and mutilation to the animals. The judge says the Cruses weren’t good at running a kennel but that a felony charge was not justified.
Greene County Assistant Prosecutor Kristen Tuohy says she still plans to file up to 43 misdemeanor animal abuse charges against the couple for allegedly neglecting other animals at the kennel.
