In Marshall County, Tennessee, a law enforcement agency is under scrutiny for seizing animals without warrants. Current and former officials in the Marshall County Sheriff’s Office reportedly admitted to the practice during a court proceeding.
The story reveals how those purporting to fight for the rights of animals use their positions to steal people’s property under the guise of stopping animal cruelty.
A former sheriff of Marshall County — where the current sheriff and a detective revealed they have for years seized livestock without warrants — denied the sheriff’s claims that imply previous administrations had done similar things in the past.
Norman Dalton, who was Marshall County’s sheriff from 2010 to 2014, said he was “shocked” at the amount of animals seized by the office since Sheriff Billy Lamb took over in 2014. Records filed in discovery in a lawsuit show the office seized animals from at least 10 people from 2014 to 2019, none with a seizure warrant. Detective Tony Nichols handled all the animal cruelty cases, Lamb said in a deposition in the same lawsuit.
During that deposition, Lamb agreed when asked by prosecutors if it was consistent with his 38 years of experience in the sheriff’s office that officers don’t get warrants before conducting searches or seizures related to animal cruelty investigations. Lamb also said that the office could expect to make a profit after seizing and selling the animals in some cases.
Dalton explained that officers under Lamb did not follow proper procedures when handling these cases. “Every time you seize an animal, they should have had a warrant,” he said.
Dalton explained how he believes an animal cruelty investigation should be handled. First, he said, it is unusual that just one detective — Nichols in this case — has handled all such cases for the sheriff’s office. The Marshall County Sheriff’s Office has three detectives, who are assigned cases on a rolling basis, Dalton explained.
In one instance, the authorities seized 50 cattle from Matthew and Julie Hopkins in 2018. Most of the animals were deemed to be in good conditions. He later won a $500,000 settlement after suing.
Nichols had done the same three years earlier when he seized horses from a resident who raised horses.
In 2015, Nichols seized eight horses from Darlene Wood, who said she raised Tennessee walking horses. She did this to supplement her husband’s income.
Nichols first contacted her on March 31, 2015. On April 6, she returned from the doctor to find officers loading her horses onto a trailer on her property. She said she did not consent to the seizure and records do not indicate that officers had obtained a seizure warrant.
“At no point in time did Nichols show me one piece of paper,” Wood said.
This story is one of several in which supposed animal rights groups have partnered with law enforcement to steal people’s livestock. Last year, I covered a similar case in Arkansas in which local police seized a man’s dogs and chickens under false allegations of animal cruelty. The animals were later given to a local animal rescue center which used them to raise money.
Fortunately, this particular situation has come to light and the actions of law enforcement are being exposed. But there are still many such incidents occurring all across the nation that never get addressed because they don’t garner the same level of attention.
