Gregory Donnell Roberson, 34, of Fort Smith faces three felony counts of cruelty to animals after the Moffett Police Department received a complaint about the horses being loose in the yard of another residence.
Moffett Officer Kathy Luper reported that when Police Chief Charles Miller went to check into the situation she received a phone call from him advising that she should come to the location to see what was going on because the two horses he found at the site looked as if they were “starved to death,” and needed help.
Luper reported the horses, a black and white gelding and a white mare, were wearing halters and were in poor condition.
“The white horse was shaking and the other one was unstable on its feet,” she wrote in her report. “I was completely astounded by the starved skeleton-like condition of the white horse. It looked as if it was going to fall in the street.”
Luper also reported that she began making phone calls to the Sequoyah County Sheriff’s Office, District Attorney’s Office and to veterinarians in order to get help for the animals.
“The horses were covered in flies and filth,” she wrote. “The black and white horse had horseshoes and the white one had one.”
After finding a safe location for the animals the officers went to an area feed store where they purchased sweet feed, hay, fly spray, iodine wash and electrolyte powder as advised by an area veterinarian in order to properly care for the horses.
Luper reported that Marsha Cheater came to the police station stating that the horses belonged to her and her boyfriend, Gregory Roberson.
Cheater told Luper that the horses, Lilly and Lil Dude, had been in a pin in Moffett for about four weeks and that she had not fed either horse in about two weeks because she did not have the money to put gas in her car in order to drive to Moffett.
“She told me she loved the horses and would not give them up,” Luper stated in her report.
When asked when and where the horses were purchased Cheater reportedly told Luper, “I don’t know. Just bought them in Arkansas.”
Cheater began crying when Luper showed her pictures of the two horses.
“I explained to her that this horse (the white one) did not appear to be loved by anyone in this condition,” Luper reported.
Cheater left the police station after refusing to relinquish ownership of the horses even after seeing pictures of the animals in their starved conditions
Officers, the report states, tried to interview Roberson but he refused to answer any of their request for an interview.
On Oct. 14 veterinarian Dr. Gary Cox of Sallisaw inspected and confirmed the horses had been abused. Cox said the white horse is about three years old and in severe starvation to the point of destroying muscle mass, Luper reported.
The two-year-old black and white horse according to Cox appeared to be in moderate starvation, which could be completely reversible.
Cox reportedly donated wormer medication and medicated shampoo for each of the animals.
The felony cruelty to animals charge carries a penalty of up to 10 years in prison and fines up to $1,000.
