Oconee County Sheriff’s Office Conducting Ongoing Ill Treatment of Animals Investigation
(Walhalla, SC)-----------------------------------Investigators from the Criminal Investigations Bureau of the Oconee County Sheriff’s Office are currently conducting an Ill Treatment of Animals investigation.
The investigation began during the early morning hours of September 18th of this year after a Deputy assigned to the Uniform Patrol Bureau responded to an address on Whitewater Falls Road, which is north of Salem, in reference to a suspicious person call for service. After arriving on scene, the Deputy spoke with the property owners, who stated that a person had come onto the property and killed a goat.
The person had already left the property before the Deputy arrived; however, the Deputy was able to obtain an image of the person via a property camera, which was used to identify the suspicious person as a juvenile. The Deputy then proceeded to the juvenile’s place of residence.
After arriving on scene, the Deputy made contact with a parent of the juvenile. The parent granted consent for the Deputy to enter the home in order to have a conversation with the juvenile, who is a 14 year old male.
The 14 year old was detained and a Juvenile Referral Packet was created by the Deputy. The juvenile was subsequently transported to the Department of Juvenile Justice facility in Columbia on a charge of Ill Treatment of Animals.
Since opening this investigation, the Sheriff’s Office has taken additional reports of other missing or dead animals at locations on Cannon Road and Grant Road near Salem. Based upon evidence obtained so far, Investigators believe that the animal deaths are not related to animal attacks but were caused by a human.
If you have any information on these Ill Treatment of Animals investigations, or if you live in the Salem area, and have had animals that either are missing or killed under suspicious circumstances, contact the Criminal Investigations Bureau of the Oconee County Sheriff’s Office at 864-718-1052. You can submit a tip to Crimestoppers, where you don’t have to give your name, at 1-844-71-CRIME, online at 71crime.com or via the free P3 app.
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