A TN sheriff's office seized cattle without warrants. Now, it must pay
The Marshall County Sheriff’s Office and two of its top employees have been ordered to pay a combined $485,000 to a family after a jury found in October that the office unlawfully seized roughly 50 beef cattle from their Chapel Hill farm.
It wasn't the first time they seized livestock without a warrant, either.
Documents included in a federal lawsuit show that the office for years did not receive warrants before seizing livestock in alleged animal cruelty investigations. In some cases, like the one involving the Chapel Hill farm, the office sold the cattle after seizing them. Then, the county could “anticipate making a profit,” according to a 2020 deposition of Sheriff Billy Lamb.
Now, the family whose cattle were taken has moved out of the county but is still struggling to deal with the trauma of the ordeal.
https://www.knoxnews.com/story/news/local/2024/01/25/marshall-county-sheriff-seized-cattle-without-warrants-must-pay-485k/71505724007/
Nice little criminal enterprise you got going there, Sheriff.....
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