A Crowley, Louisiana, municipal animal shelter fired and then charged with animal cruelty last August had all charges dropped recently for lack of evidence. The former employee, Michael Edwards, had been fired for an unspecified reason. After the bodies of an unspecified number of dogs, but many fewer than the over 200 initially alleged, were discovered behind the City of Crowley Animal Shelter, he was charged with 5 counts of Obstruction of Justice, 3 counts of Aggravated Cruelty to Animals and 1 count of Malfeasance in Office. All of these charges have been dropped.
Edwards now says, in reference to the number of dogs he allegedly killed, "Then it went to like 200 to 250 dogs, I don't think I have time to do that many, especially in five months [he was employed]." He claims that his only crime was disposing of animals improperly because the disposal containers were not available.
At the time Edwards was charged, this reporter wrote two articles, "Crowley city employee charged with animal cruelty in dog deaths" and "More details on the horrifying crime at Crowley animal shelter." If additional evidence is discovered, the case could be resubmitted.
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