Three arrested in Graves animal cruelty case

Three people were arrested in Graves County and will face animal cruelty charges in the death of a dog.

The Graves County Sheriff’s Office was called out Monday afternoon at about 4 p.m. to a home along Neely Road after a passerby spotted a dog chained up outside. Deputies reportedly located a yellow lab chained to a doghouse in direct sun with no shade nearby for relief. The dog had succumbed to the heat.

Graves County Animal Control and the Graves County Animal Shelter assisted in the investigation. Officers took the body temperature of the dog, and it registered over 111 degrees, which is the device’s limit. At the time, the National Weather Service had issued warnings for heat indices well over 100 degrees.  

Investigators located and arrested three people who lived in the home and were responsible for the care of the dog. The three, 36-year-old Rodney B. Brogdon, 43-year-old Frederick J. Walton, and 38-year-old Jessica L. Johnson, were charged with the recently enacted torture of a dog or cat.

The Graves County Sheriff’s Office has now investigated two of these cases in the last month.

Brogdon, Walton, and Johnson will be arraigned in Graves County District Court on August 5th.