A Gold Hill man faces 35 counts of misdemeanor animal cruelty following a complaint from the Rowan County Animal Control. Troy Houston Autry, 49, who lives in the 13000 block of N.C. 52, is being accused of not feeding multiple animals including dogs, kittens and a parrot. A criminal summons, issued Thursday, says some of the animals had skin conditions, eye infections and others were underweight. One of the animals, a dog, was pregnant and another dog was blind.
The Rowan County Sheriff’s Office served the summons and Autry is scheduled to be in court April 2. It is not clear at this time if Autry operates a home-based kennel business.
Nearly 10 years ago, law enforcement investigated the same home, and its owner, Peggy Bost, for animal cruelty. In 2002, Bost was convicted of multiple charges of mistreating animals. Many of those animals were dogs. She was again charged with animal cruelty in March 2003, while on probation. Bost was not named in this latest criminal summons. Check back for more details.