By Shannon McFarlin News Director
Paris, Tenn.–When Henry County Sheriff Monte Belew arrived at 2465 Dale Cemetery Road in Buchanan Thursday morning on a report of animal abuse, he didn’t expect he would be walking into a house of horrors.
Belew said when he walked through a trail of animal pens, kennels and high grass he already knew he would be dealing with a case of large-scale animal abuse.
But when he arrived at the front door of the single-wide trailer, the door was propped open and he could see a child in a dog kennel. He knew then the sheriff’s office was dealing with something horrific.
“It’s hard to find something that shocks us,” Belew said. “But we had never seen anything like this before.”
At a press conference Friday morning, Belew and his fellow officers: Chief Deputy Damon Lowe, Captain Adam Jenkins, Investigators Gary Vandiver and Scott Wyerick, and Lt. Daniel Powell, presented what was found at the scene all day Thursday. District Attorney Matt Stowe also was at the press conference and asked the public to keep their eyes open for these kinds of situations. “These things can stay hidden in a rural area,” he said.
Belew said the small kennel in which the child was living was surrounded by buckets full of hundreds of mice, cages with snakes, including a 10 foot boa constrictor. “The three buckets of mice were leaned up against the child’s cage and three feet to the left above the child’s head were the cages with the snakes,” Belew said.
There was no flooring in the trailer, the kitchen was unlivable and there were hundreds of cockroaches and insects everywhere. “I can’t believe people could survive in these conditions,” Belew said.
Deputies arrested the mother, Heather Scarbrough, age 42; the stepfather Thomas J. Brown, age 46; the step-grandfather Charles Brown, age 82, all of that address. All are being kept on $300,000 bonds each in the Henry Co. Jail. All are charged with aggravated child abuse, aggravated cruelty to animals, manufacturing marijuana, possession of drug paraphernalia. Thomas J. Brown is also charged with felony possession of a weapon.
The child immediately was placed in the custody of the Department of Childrens’ Services, Belew said. A female deputy was on the scene immediately and the child immediately bonded with her, opening his arms to her when she picked him up. The child is a one and a half year old boy.
The Animal Rescue Corps was contacted and they remained on the scene all day treating and cataloging the animals, Belew said.
On the premises, deputies found 127 marijuana plants being grown outside, 17 guns including an AR-15, 56 dogs (one of which was in labor and which had puppies overnight); 10 rabbits, four parakeets, 86 chickens and roosters, three cats, eight snakes, one pheasant, 531 mice, rats and hamsters, one gecko, and three sugar sliders (flying squirrels).
Belew thanked Dr. Neal and staff of the Paris Veterinary Clinic who were on the scene all day. “Dr. Neal is a blessing to this community. He didn’t leave the scene until each of the animals was examined and rescued.”
The Animal Rescue Corps had 18 volunteers on the scene. Belew said, “I can’t say enough about the Animal Rescue Corps. We have the Henry Co. Sheriff’s Animal Shelter, but we couldn’t handle that many dogs at one time. We were overloaded.”
The TWRA also was on the scene to take care of the snakes.
Several Henry Countians are housing the animals temporarily, Belew said.
The three who were arrested reacted with shock and said they wanted to be left alone to live their lives.
“It was just heart-breaking,” Belew said.
