A Carter County judge sentenced a man to serve 50 days in jail after he entered a guilty plea on charges of animal cruelty.
Ricky Wayne Oliver, 58, of 798 Highway 91, Elizabethton, pleaded guilty to two counts of animal cruelty and one count of violation of probation in Carter County General Sessions Court on Friday.
Judge Keith Bowers Jr. sentenced Oliver to serve 50 days in jail on the animal cruelty charges and 20 days in jail on the violation of probation charge. Bowers also ordered Oliver to serve 11 months and 29 days probation on the animal cruelty charges and to pay a $25 fine on each of those counts.
The animal cruelty charges against Oliver stem from an incident on Dec. 23, 2016, when deputies reported finding two dogs on his property that appeared to have died of starvation.
According to court documents, Carter County Sheriff’s Office Lt. Keith Range and Deputy Samantha Maney went to Oliver’s home in Stoney Creek after Maney received information there were two dead dogs on the property which were still chained and lying on the ground.
“I asked Mr. Oliver if he had any dogs to which he replied he did but they had died,” Range said in the affidavit of complaint against Oliver.
“I asked him how long ago they had died and he said he didn’t know.”
“I then asked him when was the last time he had seen the animals alive and he replied a week or so ago,” Range added. “I asked Mr. Oliver what had happened to which he replied ‘I reckon they starved to death.’”
In court documents Range states he found two deceased dogs on the property, and it was apparent the animals were malnourished and died of starvation.
Range placed Oliver under arrest and charged him with two counts of animal cruelty. At the time of the incident in December, Oliver was on probation following a conviction for reckless endangerment. Bowers signed a warrant charging Oliver with violating the terms of his probation based on the animal cruelty charges against him.